


Playing with Fire

by InspectorBoxer



Series: Trial by Fire [2]
Category: Nikki & Nora
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-28
Updated: 2013-11-28
Packaged: 2018-01-02 21:40:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 58,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1061948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InspectorBoxer/pseuds/InspectorBoxer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to Trial by Fire. Nikki and Nora deal with a new case and their growing feelings for each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to darandkerry, zennie, and bcharmer23 for taking time out of their schedules to help beta this along the way. I've written on this one for a while (cough... years... cough) but it's finally finished. If you read and enjoy it, please be kind of enough to let me know by leaving kudos or a comment. I'd appreciate knowing if I should continue writing this pairing. Thanks!
> 
> Hopefully this will tide everyone over a bit as we wait for the premiere of the new Nikki & Nora webseries on Dec. 22.

The door closed with a barely discernable click in the stillness of the hour. Thunder rumbled along at a leisurely, muted pace outside the open windows as the scent of rain washed in with a breeze that blew back the pale yellow sheers. Nora leaned against the wood, her whole body sagging against it as if she would drop to her knees without its strength to hold her up.

Dripping from head to toe, Nora could hear the big fat drops striking the rug under her feet. Ruefully, she looked at her cast and watched the water sluice down it. She thought it rather looked like a first grader’s art project now. Her doctor was going to give her hell. Not to mention what her mother, a registered nurse, would say.

As if to punctuate that fact, a clap of thunder sounded outside the window with a flash of lightening, illuminating the darkened room. Nora jumped a little and watched, bemused, as her cat Reba came streaking by.

The detective took a slow, measured breath to calm her still drumming heart and slid wearily to the floor. Nora drew her knees to her chest and set her chin on them, watching the storm beyond her windows. 

She’d kissed Nikki Beaumont.

A woman.

Her partner.

Nora closed her eyes and let her head fall back against the door. She groaned and a shiver worked its way through her when she remembered the heat of Nikki’s mouth, the taste of her. Nora knew she’d made a huge mistake kissing Nikki, but now she couldn’t stop thinking about how much she wanted to do it again. How much she wanted to press Nikki up against the nearest flat surface and… and…

God.

“Stop, stop, stop,” Nora whispered into the darkness. “You can’t,” she hissed at herself. 

The only thing that had stopped the kiss from progressing had been the onset of the sudden storm. It had rushed over them, opening up and unleashing a torrent of wind and water. Nikki had grabbed Nora’s hand, leading her expertly through the perfumed gardens and into the house where the other guests had been smart enough to take cover long before the first drops fell from the sky.

Nora had quickly and pathetically made excuses before running for the hills, or at least her apartment. She prayed Nikki wouldn’t follow. If her partner came to her tonight… after what they’d just shared…

Another shiver wracked Nora’s wet frame. With a sigh, she eased back to her feet and headed for her claw foot tub. Her guts and head were churning, neither sure what to feel about the events of the last few hours. 

A short time later, she submerged herself in warm water, careful to keep her cast perched on the tub’s edge. Leaning her head back against the cool porcelain, Nora watched the candlelight flicker off the ceiling. It was hypnotic, almost as entrancing as Nikki’s face had been when the lamplight had played over her features.

“What in the hell are you doing, Delaney?” Nora growled at herself. “She’s your partner, dammit.” There was a moment’s pause. “She’s a woman,” Nora added in a softer voice.

A woman with beautiful curves, temptingly soft skin, and a mouth that…

Nora groaned out loud before sliding completely under the water in a lame attempt to drown her unwanted thoughts.

****

“Holy hell.”

“And hello to you, too, Nik,” Darius greeted with a chuckle. He glanced at his watch. “Aren’t you supposed to be at your big, fancy schmancy dinner party?”

Nikki shifted her cell phone from one ear to the other as she moved away from the windows in her father’s parlor. She noted with little surprise that her hands were shaking. “Darius, I think I did something really, really stupid.”

There was a pause on the other end of the line. “Did you…?”

“I did. Oh did I ever.” Nikki continued to pace. A towel was draped around her neck, but it was the only concession she’d made for her dripping appearance. She was thankfully alone. The other guests had mingled about on the covered porch and had finally settled in the kitchen to eat and cheerfully wait out the storm.

“Well?”

“Well what?”

“Don’t keep a man in suspense. Was it a good kiss?” Darius teased, figuring his friend needed to calm down before they could really talk.

Nikki stopped pacing and put her forehead against the nearest available wall. “Oh shit, Darius,” she breathed.

His eyebrows elevated. “That good, huh?”

“It’s just… I can’t… I…” Nikki stuttered. The detective was terrified she’d ruined everything with Nora, and yet, her body still felt like it was carrying an electric current.

“Hey now,” Darius said a little more seriously. “Calm down. Where are you? I can come get you.” 

Nikki felt relief so keenly it brought tears to her eyes. “I’m still at my father’s,” she breathed.

“I’m on my way, sugar.”

****

An hour later, they sat side by side in a small coffee shop. The scent of mocha and pastries hung enticingly in the air as Nikki brought her cup to her lips and took a sip. The coffee was too hot, and it burned all the way down, but it was just what she needed to shock her back into the present. “What in the hell did I go and do?” she finally asked, her first words since Darius had picked her up, cold and shivering, outside her father’s house.

Darius ran his tongue over his teeth as he tried to decide how best to proceed. “Let’s start with you telling me what happened.”

So Nikki did, in a halting voice, sharing her memories of kissing Nora and her partner’s subsequent flight from the scene.

“She’s a little freaked,” Darius easily surmised from Nikki’s surprisingly detailed description.

“She didn’t like it. I… forced myself… I….”

Darius smiled. “She liked it, Nik. Too much. That’s the problem.”

The detective looked at him over the rim of her coffee cup before she took another sip. “You really think so?” 

Darius chuckled. “Sugar, since when do you not have confidence in yourself about these things?”

Nikki rubbed her forehead, her hand warm from holding her coffee. “That’s just it, Darius. I can’t get my head on straight with her.”

“No pun intended?”

Nikki glared at him, before swatting his arm as Darius merely continued to laugh. “This is serious!” she whined. “I can’t think clearly about this. I don’t know what she’s thinking, what she wants…”

“What do you want?” Darius asked as his amusement faded. “Is this physical or something more?”

It was a question she’d been asking herself ever since she’d felt her first heavy stirrings of attraction for the blonde. Nikki wasn’t sure, and the uncertainty had been driving her crazy. “I’ve known her for a handful of weeks.”

“Soul mates have known each other lifetime after lifetime,” Darius countered.

Nikki’s head came up sharply as she looked at him. “Oh come on.”

The informant held up his hands. “I’m just saying. It’s not all that unusual for two people to connect as fast as you have. The Archer case was a tough one. It figures you’d bond.”

The thought gave Nikki a measure of comfort and easy denial. “True.”

“But that must have been one helluva kiss to mess with your head like this.”

The detective shot him a look that only made him chuckle again. “It was,” she confessed finally. “Even now, I just…”

“Want to go to her apartment and tear all her clothes off?” Darius teased and was rewarded with Nikki’s prominent blush. It was another telling sign. Nikki rarely got embarrassed when it came to frank talk about sex. “You two need to talk.”

“It’s just physical,” Nikki replied, not sure she believed that. “We make great partners. We can’t screw this up with sex.”

“You really like working with her, don’t you?”

Slowly, Nikki nodded. “I can learn a lot from her, Darius. I trust her to have my back.”

“Is the job worth more than what you two could have?”

Nikki swallowed. “What we can have?” She shook her head. “The longest relationship I’ve ever had is with a leather jacket, and Nora has never even been with a woman. We’d be doomed to failure.” The thought was supposed to buoy her spirits, but it had the opposite effect, making her eyes burn with tears.

Darius noticed but knew better than to comment. “Nik…”

“I just… we can’t, Darius.”

“You remember what I said about ignoring an itch?”

The detective took a deep breath and looked at him. “As I recall, that advice got me in a lot of trouble.”

Darius didn’t smile. “This isn’t going to go away. The more you two try to pretend like you don’t want this, the harder it’s going to be to deny it.”

“We’ll see.” Nikki leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “I have to go. I’m turning into a prune under these clothes.”

Watching her leave and flag down a taxi just outside the door, Darius sighed audibly as Nikki slid inside and was whisked away. “How much are you gonna meddle in this, my man?” he asked himself, already suspecting the answer.

**** 

“Morning.”

Nora glanced up from her desk to find Nikki standing in front of her, dressed in jeans and a button-down blue shirt. The blonde’s heart lurched at the sight of the other detective, even though she’d been preparing for this moment all weekend. “Hey,” Nora greeted, only to clear her throat when her voice cracked.

Nikki’s lips quirked on one side, but she didn’t comment. She jerked her chin at Nora’s cast. “You got a new one. Everything all right?” The dark-haired woman sat down at her desk as her heart felt like it was trying to beat out of her chest. Nora was wearing a dark brown t-shirt that was tucked into a pair of old, faded jeans. Her leather jacket was slung over the back of her chair. She looked so damn good Nikki wanted to pull her own hair out.

Nora held up her cast. “Yeah. The other one got…” She trailed off when a flash of the circumstances that had ruined her last cast flickered across her mind’s eye in Technicolor.

Licking her lips, Nikki nodded. “So are we still on desk duty or do we have an assignment?”

Nora didn’t know whether to be grateful or hurt that Nikki had chosen not to talk about the kiss. “I haven’t heard, yet.”

As if on cue, Dan stepped out of his office and bellowed at them both.

“Guess that answers that question,” Nikki drawled as she got to her feet and waited for Nora to join her.

Careful to leave some distance between them, they made their way to Dan’s office and settled in the chairs on the other side of their superior’s desk.

“What’s up?” Nora asked.

“How’s the arm?” Dan wanted to know.

“Healing well,” Nora answered. “I’m cleared to be out on the streets.”

“So I’ve heard.” Dan glanced at Nikki before picking up a file off his desk and handing it to her. “You know Charles Wentworth?”

Nikki accepted the file and flipped it open. “He works in textiles. He’s in his late seventies, I think. Crotchety old thing.” She glanced at Nora and was pleased to see a slight grin shape her partner’s lips.

“Not anymore,” Dan replied. “He was found dead last night, floating face down in his slip at the pier.”

The crime scene photos made Nikki wince as she got a look at the bloated man in evidence. “Time of death?” She handed the file to her partner, careful to keep their fingers from touching.

“Coroner thinks it was around seven Saturday night. Someone weighted the guy down, but it looks like the currents shook him loose. Good thing, too.” Dan leaned back in his chair.

“Why is that?” Nora asked.

“He would have been chum if someone had started his boat. Someone wanted him sliced to ribbons by the propeller.”

Both detectives grimaced at the imagery.

“Well that sounds personal,” Nikki drawled. “Why are we just hearing about it now?”

“Georgia and Radek originally caught the case, but I want you two to handle it.”

Nora glanced up from the photographs. “They aren’t going to like having their case yanked out from under them.”

“I’ll deal with that. You two handle Wentworth. And close it fast. I don’t want the press to latch onto another high profile death. They’re still salivating on all the lurid details of the Archer killings.”

The partners exchanged a look, nodding in silent agreement.

“We’ll start with his ex,” Nikki suggested as they left Dan’s office. “Marjorie had good reason for wanting Charles dead.”

“Yeah?” Nora asked as she dropped the file on her desk and slipped her jacket on.

“He cheated on her for four years and still managed to win almost everything in the divorce settlement.”

“Ouch,” Nora hissed. They stared at each other for a beat, their thoughts shifting back to the tension between them. “Listen,” Nora started hesitantly.

“Nothing to listen to,” Nikki cut her off firmly, but gently. “It was just a kiss, Nora.” She kept her voice low and light in case someone was listening.

“Nikki…”

“It’s not like we’re going to do it again.” Nikki managed to dredge up a smile by sheer force of will.

They were the words Nora wanted to hear, but hearing them strangely hurt. “Right. I just… thought we should clear the air is all.”

“The air is all clear.” Nikki grabbed her own jacket and headed for the parking lot, hoping she could get the tears she could feel threatening under control before Nora noticed them.

Nora watched her walk away, feeling a nameless emotion gripping her so hard she could barely breathe.

****

They opted to run by the marina first since it was on the way to Marjorie Wentworth’s penthouse apartment. Nora parked the El Camino in the lot, grateful to be able to get out and move. The ride over had been tense and silent, as Nikki had thumbed through the file while Nora drove. Their only snatches of conversation had been about the case.

Nora slipped out of the car and stood in the late morning sun, taking in a deep breath and smelling the scents of fish, wood, and water assaulting her senses. She put her sunglasses on and waited for Nikki to join her before they headed down the ramp and toward the marina below.

There were no small boats in any of the slips, unless they were attached to much, much larger versions of themselves. Nora slipped a little on the wet wood and felt Nikki’s hand wrap around her bicep to steady her.

“Thanks.”

“Don’t want to get another cast wet,” Nikki joked faintly.

Nora smiled at the attempt at humor. She glanced down at the post-it note in her hand. “Slip 362.”

Nikki squinted into the sun as she glanced around. “Woof,” she muttered suddenly as she pointed at one of the largest boats in the marina. “Wentworth could have given Noah a run for his money.”

The blonde’s eyebrows hiked to her hairline as she whistled. The boat was obscenely enormous, as big as her parents’ house two times over. “Was he living on that thing?”

The detectives made their way across the docks until they came abreast of the boat. Crime scene tape still fluttered in the faint breeze, and they both ducked under it before making their way to the end of the small pier and taking measure of the craft up close.

“Appropriate name.”

Nora glanced where Nikki was pointing. They were staring at a ship called the “Fat Cat.” “That is what we call excess,” Nora muttered.

Nikki snorted. She leaned over and looked into the water, comparing what she was seeing to the crime scene photos now imprinted on her memory. “So the killer had to know the depth to give Wentworth enough rope to float at even height with the propeller.”

Nora shivered a little at the thought. “That is just sick.”

Nikki glanced at her and smiled. “No argument from me there. Wonder who was supposed to take the boat out next?”

“I bet that will wind up being important.”

“Why?”

“Because the killer purposefully didn’t turn on the boat him or herself.”

Nikki nodded, understanding the logic. “Wanted someone else to live with the knowledge they shredded ole Wenty.”

“Wenty?”

Shrugging, Nikki started for the small gangplank that would take them on-board. “That’s what my daddy always called him. I don’t think it was a nickname Wentworth particularly liked.”

“Does your father make friends with anyone?” Nora asked as they stepped on-board and glanced around.

“Only people he has use for,” Nikki admitted. She put her hands on her hips, doing her best to ignore the scent of Nora’s perfume as it washed over her on a gentle breeze. Waves pushed against the boat, making it rock in a soothing side-to-side sway. “You want the top or the bottom?”

Nora sighed. “Crime scene techs and Georgia and Radek have been all over it.” She noted the black fingerprint dust everywhere that had yet to blow away in the wind. “I doubt we’ll find much, if anything.”

“Just the measure of the man and his money,” Nikki agreed.

Nora pointed up and Nikki nodded. They moved off, splitting up as they entered the living area. Nora clamored up the steps to the top, while Nikki went below.

Two hours later, they emerged both hungry and empty-handed.

“The measure of this particular man is that he had too much money and didn’t know what to do with it,” Nora huffed as she climbed back into the car. “Think about the good he could have done with that cash, instead of spending it on something like that.”

Nikki said nothing as she punched in Darius’ number. 

Nora watched her, aching a little for the friendly familiarity that was missing between them this morning. She started the car. “If you’re calling Darius, have him meet us at Sweeny’s. I’m starving.”

****

Darius whistled into the quiet, earning a glare from Nikki and a sideways glance from Nora. They were all gathered in a booth at Sweeny’s, eating their lunches in silence. He could see now why Nikki had freaked out over what had happened with Nora, but the tension between them also told him a hell of a lot about the nature of the feelings they shared.

He never thought he’d live to see the day when he would watch Nikki Beaumont finally fall in love. The thought made him smile as he chomped on a French fry and Nora looked at him suspiciously. 

“Something funny?” the blonde detective inquired.

Darius shook his head, his dreadlocks swaying. “Not at all, Detective.” He smiled at her, and Nora narrowed her eyes in reaction.

Nikki wiped her mouth on her napkin and pushed her plate away. “All right. Tell us what you’ve got.”

“I’ve got plenty,” Darius promised, before sipping his soda. 

“We plan to interview the ex-wife when we’re done here,” Nikki told him.

“She’s a good place to start,” Darius agreed. “I’m sure you know all about their nasty divorce.”

“Only what I’d heard at parties and read in the gossip columns,” Nikki replied.

“You read gossip columns?” Nora asked in surprise.

Nikki hesitated. “It’s sort of required reading when you’re dealing with New Orleans rich and famous.” She sounded both embarrassed and slightly defensive. “You know, if Dan keeps slapping these kinds of cases on us, you might want to start reading them, too.”

Her partner looked appalled by the notion as she stuffed a fry into her mouth. Inwardly, she thought Nikki had a point, and she liked that Nikki seemed to think they could still work together. Nora had been privately worrying all weekend that their moment of weakness had destroyed their ability to be partners.

Nikki chuckled at the expression on her partner’s face, and some of the tension in the booth eased.

“So fill me in,” Nora told them. “Me being a public servant and from the wrong side of the tracks and all.”

“Some would argue I’m the one from the wrong side of the tracks,” Nikki countered with a slight grin. “Marjorie and Charles,” she finally began. 

“A match made in hell if there ever was one.”

“Amen,” Darius agreed.

“They used to have these legendary fights at parties,” Nikki went on. “I remember one where Marjorie brained her husband with a champagne glass she threw from the other side of the room. The woman has impressive aim.”

Nora smiled and tried not to laugh as she stirred another fry in some ketchup. Nikki continued to fill her in on the former Wentworths, and Nora found herself enjoying the timbre of Nikki’s voice, the accent that would thicken on some words and fade into nothing on others.

Darius nudged the blonde who blinked and looked at him. “What?”

“Earth to Nora,” Darius drawled, suspecting where the woman’s mind had been.

Green eyes shifted to Nikki who was smiling a little bashfully at her. “I just asked you if you were ready to go.”

Nora glanced at her watch and realized she’d gotten lost in her thoughts of Nikki Beaumont for five full minutes. Her stomach fluttered, and she cleared her throat. “Yeah. Sorry. I was just thinking about the angles… of the case,” she added when her brain unhelpfully called forth other angles it was far more interested in exploring. A blush roared onto her cheeks, and Nora drained the rest of her drink, crunching on the crushed ice left behind.

Nikki tilted her head, wishing like hell she could read Nora’s mind right now. “If you say so, sugar. Did you even hear what Darius said about Charles’ business partner?”

“Uh…” Nora glanced at Darius as her brain frantically tried to recall words she’d heard, but not processed. “He sounds worth looking into.” She was proud of herself for the response. It sounded like she knew what she was talking about.

Nikki nodded slowly, and Nora wondered if she’d guessed wrong.

“Ex-wife first, though,” Nikki said as she shouldered her purse.

“Absolutely.”

“Maybe Charlie will have the autopsy results for us by the end of the day,” Nikki added as they slid out of the booth.

“Something to look forward to,” Darius said with a sly grin. “You lovely ladies enjoy the rest of your day.” The informant watched them leave together, captivated by their matching gaits and the sway of their hips. 

“You thinking nasty thoughts?”

Darius chuckled as Syd slid into the booth, pocketing the money the detectives had left behind on the table. The owner of Sweeny’s waggled a finger at him. 

“Those two only got eyes for each other,” Syd continued. “You don’t got a chance in hell.”

Taking a sip of his soda first, Darius gave Syd’s statement some thought before replying. “They’re clueless, Syd.”

“This a blind man could see,” the owner agreed. “But it’s true and right.”

Darius hesitated. “For real, man? You think those two…?” The informant wondered about Syd’s seemingly psychic ability to know what customers wanted for lunch before they did. Did he know what the heart wanted as well as the stomach?

Syd winked at one of his best customers. “You wait and watch.”

Darius smiled as he popped another fry into his mouth. “Now that’s a show I’d pay admission to see,” he admitted.


	2. Chapter 2

A slum. A rat infested dive. A drug den. Nora would take any of them over something as pretentious as the building Marjorie Wentworth called home. At least dives, slums, and crack houses made Nora feel dirty for a reason; this place just made her feel poor and unworthy to grace the halls. Only the badge clipped to her hip made her feel like she had a right to be there. Her hard-earned brass shield gave her permission to go any damn place she pleased. She reminded herself of that and stood a little taller, refusing to let her surroundings get to her.

“You’re fidgeting,” Nikki commented as they rode up, side by side, in a cherry wood-paneled elevator.

“Yeah, well.” Nora shrugged jerkily, cursing inwardly at herself for somehow telegraphing her unease. “Money makes me fidget.”

“I don’t know why,” Nikki answered with the barest hint of bemusement. “I mean, you’ve got some in your wallet, right?”

Nora shot her partner a cross look as the elevator doors parted to reveal a long hallway. The carpet was the deepest of ocean blue and gave the two women the feeling as if it was swallowing their shoes as they walked. “Not the same.”

“Sure it is,” Nikki drawled. “It’s not the money that makes you fidget. It’s what a person does with it that makes you twitchy.”

Nora considered the truth of Nikki’s assessment as they headed down the hallway, passing only a smattering of doors. Wentworth’s would be the one on the end, no doubt. Her steps slowing slightly, Nora regarded her partner openly. “You aren’t crazy with your money.”

“You’ve not seen me at a shoe sale at Sak’s.”

Nora chuckled and was rewarded with a tiny glimmer of a smile from Nikki. “You don’t make me twitchy is what I meant.”

Nikki’s eyes glinted with mischief. “I beg to differ. It’s just not my money that has that effect on you.” She wondered if her statement had gone too far, or if Nora would playfully refute it. Nikki had been craving the return of their easy companionship all day. The silences between them had been long and painful, and Nikki knew her nerves were starting to fray a little around the edges from the tension.

Nora shot Nikki a look, stunned that her partner had waded into the thorny territory that seemed to surround them at every turn, yet she was oddly relieved by her partner’s flirting. “I’ll give you that,” she confessed and took delight in Nikki’s surprised double take. Brown eyes sparkled wickedly, and Nora knew she was in for it at some point. Strangely, she was happy with that knowledge.

The blonde detective got a momentary reprieve as Nikki knocked on the door to Marjorie Wentworth’s suite. They both paused and waited thirty seconds before knocking again.

“Ms. Wentworth? It’s Detective Nikki Beaumont with the New Orleans’ Police Department. I’m here with my partner, Nora Delaney. Could we speak with you?”

Nora leaned against the doorjamb. “According to Georgia’s notes, the former Mrs. Wentworth wasn’t home Saturday night, and they haven’t been able to reach her by phone, either.”

Nikki unabashedly put her ear against the door and listened as Nora straightened and glanced around, wondering if someone was going to materialize and toss them both out on their ear for acting like nosy busybodies.

“Be a little more obvious, why don’t you?” Nora muttered under her breath as she shot another paranoid glance over her shoulder.

“The clerk downstairs said he hasn’t seen her go out,” Nikki answered.

“So she went out with a group of people or went out on someone else’s shift.”

The dark haired detective shook her head. “Marjorie’s been in a wheelchair since last August. She had a stroke. I think someone would have noticed her coming or going.”

They looked at each other knowingly. It was almost frightening how often their minds seemed to work as one.

Nora sighed and shook her head before waving Nikki away from the door. “I’m gonna regret this. I just know I am.” The blonde reared her left leg back and kicked hard, connecting with the door next to the knob and splintering it part of the way open. She hopped back. “Ow. Sonofabitch. Damn thing is like a tree trunk.”

Nikki winced but made no offer to help, especially not in the shoes she was wearing; they cost considerably more than the solid wood door Nora had just ruined. “Speaking of being obvious… You know we could call down and get a key.”

Shifting position, Nora slammed her shoulder into the door, feeling it give a little further. “Like that will happen. We have a reasonable suspicion of foul play.” She shoved again and heard more splintering wood as the doorjamb started to give way. “If she’s in there bleeding, I’m not going to wait on some tightass to come up with the key or a lawyer to let us in.”

With a sigh, Nikki threw her weight against the door as well. The wood groaned before giving up, exploding inward and sending splinters flying across the thick white carpet. Both of them toppled into the foyer, just managing to right themselves before they wound up in a heap on the floor.

Nora straightened as her body made its displeasure with her well-known. “Gonna need an Advil,” she mumbled as she withdrew her weapon. The detective took a deep breath, only to wince and cover her mouth and nose with her hand.

Nikki did the same. “Oh this isn’t gonna be good.”

They found the former Mrs. Wentworth in a much shallower body of water than her husband had turned up in. 

**** 

“She was in the bathtub?”

Absently rubbing her still throbbing shoulder, Nora nodded as she watched two men from the coroner’s office get on the elevator with an empty gurney. “Marjorie Wentworth has been dead at least as long as her ex-husband, maybe even longer. Charlie will tell us exact time of death.”

“You bet I will, sugar,” the medical examiner called out as he walked behind her and joined his men on the elevator.

Nora smiled a fraction before turning her attention back to Dan. Her former partner was in one of his nicer suits, and she vaguely wondered what he’d been pulled away from to come to the scene. “I don’t think you’re gonna get your wish about the media staying away. Archer’s old news now. They’re looking for fresh meat.”

“Looks like it,” Dan agreed as he watched the swarm of reporters jockeying for position outside the front door. So far the press had been held back by two haggard looking uniformed cops and some flimsy crime scene tape. He looked at Nora as she winced in obvious pain. “You trying to get yourself back on medical leave? A cast on your arm not enough?”

“I didn’t expect the thing to be a foot thick,” the detective answered in a cranky tone. “Apparently one of the perks of being rich is being able to afford thicker doors.” 

Dan squeezed her shoulder, allowing his hand to linger as his thumb rubbed across the leather of her jacket. “You just couldn’t wait for the key, could you?” His voice was warm and knowing.

Nora had to mentally remind herself not to shy away from his touch. Her gaze darted around almost guiltily until it landed on Nikki, who was watching them curiously. Her partner gave Nora a hesitant, half-smile before turning her focus back on the security guard in the lobby. 

“You two all right?” Dan asked unexpectedly.

The blonde detective jerked away from him, covering the motion as she adjusted her jacket and tipped her head in Nikki’s direction. “I should give her a hand. And yeah, we’re fine. Why?” She didn’t wait for him to answer, choosing to almost jog to Nikki’s side. “Find anything?” Nora asked as Nikki finished questioning the guard and turned to her.

“Nothing.” Nikki’s gaze slid to Dan. “Everything okay?”

“I’m getting asked that a lot today,” Nora grumped. She rubbed at her shoulder some more. “We should…” The detective trailed off when Nikki put her hand on her injured arm and squeezed lightly. It felt like a live current had moved through Nora’s leather jacket and chased its way through her veins.

“You really did a number on yourself, didn’t you?” Nikki asked, oblivious to her partner’s sudden silence. Nikki massaged Nora’s arm, worried about her partner’s pain until she glanced up and saw the charged look Nora was giving her. Nikki’s hand went still as their gazes held. “I…” She took in a shaky breath and reluctantly let her hand drop before nervously stepping back. Clearing her throat, Nikki motioned with a wave of her hand at the elevator doors. “We should…. You know… Charlie…”

Nora nodded, missing the heat of Nikki’s hand already. Despite Nikki’s nonchalance about their kiss, Nora realized then and there they needed to have a very long talk. “You first.” 

Together, they headed for the elevators, both waving distractedly at Dan. When the doors closed and silence descended, Nora cleared her throat. “Nik…”

Nikki swallowed but said nothing, focusing intently on the numbers as the elevator rose too slowly.

“I know… we’re both being… weird,” Nora said hesitantly, unwilling to ignore the tension between them any longer.

The dark haired woman looked askance at her partner.

“I don’t want this… whatever this is…” Nora gestured between them with a jerk of her hand. “To mess us up.”

“Seems like it’s doing that already,” Nikki murmured, well aware of the uncomfortable silences that had been plaguing them all day. 

“We need to talk,” Nora told her.

The taller woman sighed and nodded reluctantly. “After the case is over. So for now… let’s just… act like nothing is wrong.”

“It’s not wrong,” Nora heard herself utter. “It’s just…”

“Weird,” Nikki parroted Nora’s choice of words back at her as the elevator doors opened. She jumped when Nora grabbed her hand and squeezed.

“We’ll fix this,” Nora promised, desperate to believe her own words.

Nikki stood completely still in the elevator as Nora released her hand and exited. “I hope so,” she whispered before following her partner back to the crime scene.

****

“You girls get all the juicy cases,” Charlie announced as the two detectives joined him in the spacious bathroom. He was kneeling next to the body and doing his best not to slosh the tainted bathwater containing Marjorie Wentworth’s blood and body fluids.

“I hope that’s a reference to our cases being high profile and not a remark about the body,” Nikki said.

Charlie’s lips twitched under his red mustache. “Suppose I could have meant both.”

“You’re a sick man,” Nikki replied with a trace of humor.

“But you’re falling for me anyway.” Charlie got to his feet. “At first blush it looks like a suicide. Wrists are slashed.”

Nora would never cease to be amazed at how much blood the human body could hold, but she was getting a pretty good representation by the amount of it darkening the water in the tub. The detective crossed her arms. “You aren’t buying it?” she guessed.

“Not for a second. No hesitation marks.”

A usual suicide would show a few failed attempts as the person dealt with the pain before making the final, deep slashes. Nikki tilted her head, keeping a finger under her nose to ward off the worst of the smell as she studied the marks in question. “Maybe she meant business.”

“We’ll see. I’m putting her death around ten Saturday night unless I find something to tell me otherwise during the autopsy.” Charlie hesitated as he looked at them. “I thought this was Georgia and Radek’s case.”

“Wish it still was,” Nora muttered as she glanced away from the body and studied the even more disturbing image of a gold-plated faucet. Nikki was right. It was what some rich people did with their money that made her uncomfortable.

Charlie nodded and decided not to meddle in department politics. He was just glad he wouldn’t have to deal with a pissed off Georgia. That was never pretty. “Well, I’ll leave you two ladies to your fun. Me and Mrs. Wentworth need to get better acquainted.”

Nikki winced at the mere thought of getting up close and personal with the victim. “Better you than me, honey.” She tipped her head at the door and followed Nora outside into the master bedroom. “So we have a double homicide. Great.”

Rolling her tense shoulders, Nora sighed. “Let’s have a look around. See if we can find some motive for this. Why someone would want to off a divorced couple in their seventies is beyond me.”

“Probably money,” Nikki informed her. “We’ll want to take a hard look at the kids and any relatives.”

“What makes you say money?” Nora asked. “It’s not the root of everything.”

“It’s a part of it, at least. In this world, Nora, money is always a factor.”

Nora shook her head, clearly disagreeing with her partner’s theory. “I’m thinking revenge. But for what, I’m not sure.”

“Hopefully we’ll find out who is right sooner rather than later,” Nikki replied without rancor.

They both sighed and began a search of the premises. 

****

“Jesus Christ.”

Nikki froze at the tone of genuine fear in Nora’s voice. Her head came up from the notes she’d been studying as they walked toward their desks at the precinct. Nikki half expected to see some nutcase waving a gun, but all she saw was a petite woman with silver hair and a predatory smile.

“Stephanie!” Nikki greeted Stephanie Shriver warmly, throwing her arms around the small woman and squeezing before stepping back to appraise her. “You look gorgeous as always.”

“Got your daddy’s gift of flattery, I see,” Stephanie teased before turning her blue eyes on Nikki’s partner. “Nora.”

“Stephanie,” Nora said weakly, having a pretty good idea why the other woman had shown up unannounced. In a moment of temporary insanity, both she and Nikki had agreed to pose for the dress designer in a photo shoot. Nora had been hoping the woman would just give up, but it was clear that Stephanie was as tenacious as she was tiny.

“I hear the cast comes off next week,” Stephanie commented casually.

Nora glanced at Nikki, who was standing behind the shorter woman. Nikki shook her head adamantly; silently communicating she hadn’t shared that information. “Where did you…?”

“You two aren’t the only ones with sources, dear.”

Nora swallowed sickly and tried not to grimace. “So… what brings you by?”

Stephanie tipped her head and gave the blonde detective a knowing look.

“You know,” Nora said slowly. “You missed your calling. You would make a hell of a cop with a look like that.”

The designer chuckled and laced her arm around one of Nikki’s, steering both women toward their desks. “I’m flattered. I think.” She watched as Nikki sat before turning her attention back on Nikki’s pretty partner. “And you should be, too.” Stephanie playfully poked Nora in the stomach. “I don’t just ask anyone to model my creations, you know.”

“I’m not a model,” Nora blurted, her cheek turning slightly rosy in color. 

“Neither am I,” Nikki drawled with more humor than her partner was displaying.

“But you look like one,” Nora fired back before she thought better of the statement. Her cheeks heated even more when Nikki smiled devilishly at her. Nora cleared her throat and reluctantly tore her gaze away from Nikki’s sparkling eyes. “I’m just saying… you should get a professional to show off your… creations.”

Stephanie put her palms on either side of Nora’s face and playfully squeezed, making Nora’s lips pout like a fish’s. “But a professional wouldn’t have this beautiful, angular face, dear.”

Nikki started laughing and had to look away when Nora shot her a murderous look.

“And I want real people in my campaigns. You and Nikki will look stunning together. Besides,” Stephanie released her hold on the detective, “you promised.”

Nora raked her fingers through her hair and glanced around; grateful the precinct was mostly empty. “Fine. Fine, fine, fine. As long as it gets you off our backs. You’re like a rat terrier nipping at our heels.”

“Better your heels than your ass,” Stephanie pointed out with a playful slap to Nora’s right hip, the one that was holster free. Her humor finally wormed a small smile from Nora’s lips and Stephanie winked. “Next Wednesday. Seven o’clock. I’ll email you both the location once it’s confirmed.”

“We’ll be there,” Nikki promised. 

“Use the handcuffs on her if you have to,” Stephanie told Nikki with another poke at Nora.

Both detectives glanced at each other, their minds once again running along similar, but this time, inappropriate paths. Stephanie glanced from one to the other, sensing by their sudden blushes exactly what the two were thinking.

“Such thoughts,” the designer playfully huffed before leaving the two red-faced detectives to their work and to each other.

****


	3. Chapter 3

The brownstone was the size of half her building, Nora deduced, and she would swear she could smell old money mixed in with the mortar between the bricks as they passed beside the century old-building. Pungent pink flowers were in full bloom behind a small, wrought iron fence as the two partners made their way up a set of steep stone steps toward the front door. Nora had no idea what the blooms were, but she suspected they were expensive and very hard to come by.

“You don’t think we’ll find another Wentworth dead in here, do you?” Nikki asked before ringing the bell.

“God, I hope not.”

It took a second ring before the detectives heard a series of locks disengage. A young Hispanic woman cracked open the door and peered out at them. “Yes?” Her English was heavily accented.

Nikki held her badge up for inspection. “I’m Detective Nikki Beaumont, and this is my partner Nora Delaney. We’re looking for Sarah Wentworth?”

“One moment.” The woman disappeared, and the door closed once more.

Nikki turned to look at Nora as they waited.

“You know the daughter?” Nora asked. Sometimes it seemed like Nikki knew everyone.

Nikki shook her head. “Met her brother David once. He’s an odd one.”

“Odd?”

“Came to a social event rather unkempt. Not sure he’d bathed in a week. Rumors are that he’s got some mental health issues as well as a bad habit or two.”

“What kind of mental health issues?” Nora wanted to know as she glanced up and down the street. The curb was lined with expensive vehicles, and she hoped her El Camino wouldn’t get towed by some snotty neighbor while they were inside. 

“The kind that gets you kicked out of the country club for going ape-shit crazy and smashing a very pricey ice sculpture at the Debutante Ball two springs ago.”

Nora’s lips quirked into a half-smile, half-smirk. “And here I thought all these rich and haughty social functions were such a bore. I never realized how often they get physical.”

“You’d fit right in,” Nikki teased. “Social functions are like NASCAR. You don’t go for the race… you go to watch the crashes.”

Nora barked out a laugh just as the front door opened again.

“Ms. Wentworth will see you now,” the young woman announced as she stepped aside and allowed the detectives to enter. 

Sarah Wentworth was waiting for them in the foyer. She was a tall woman, close to Nikki’s five ten in height with a cascade of platinum blonde hair falling in waves down her back. Her skin was a healthy tan with a smattering of freckles across her small nose and cheeks that brought out the hazel of her eyes. She was probably close to forty in age, but she looked more like thirty-five. “Detectives,” she greeted coolly. “I assume this is about Charles.”

Charles? Nora wondered what kind of woman called her father by his first name. “Partially,” she replied almost cryptically. “Could we sit down?”

Sarah hesitated before gesturing behind her. “It’s a lovely day. Why don’t we take our business out to the balcony?”

“That would be fine,” Nikki answered agreeably as they followed Wentworth through the spacious and tidy brownstone. There were fresh vacuum tracks on the thick tan carpet, and the residence smelled strongly of furniture polish. As Nikki watched, the housekeeper who had greeted them at the door dusted a small figurine and put it back precisely as she found it.

The balcony was actually one in a series the detectives discovered as they stepped outside. The brownstone was three stories tall with each level containing its own wrought iron space. They all took their seats as Sarah removed a cigarette from a silver carrying case and proceeded to light it without asking for the detective’s permission.

Nikki and Nora exchanged a look, silently communicating that Nikki was to take the lead.

Nikki leaned forward. “Ms. Wentworth, when was the last time you saw your mother?”

“My mother?” Sarah asked as she blew smoke through her perfectly parted lips. “What does she have to do with this? Surely you don’t think she dumped daddy-dearest into Lake Pontchartrain? Not that I would blame her. He was a cheating bastard who finally got what was coming to him.” She almost sounded like she was going to laugh.

“Ms. Wentworth,” Nikki said slowly. “We found your mother a few hours ago. I’m afraid I have to inform you that she’s been murdered.”

The cigarette paused between the ashtray and Sarah’s lips. Her hazel eyes darted first to Nikki’s gaze and then to Nora’s. “You’re joking.”

Nora wanted to ask who would joke about something like that, but she held her tongue and waited for Nikki to continue, watching her partner’s profile as the afternoon sun almost lit her in silhouette.

“I’m sorry,” Nikki told the other woman.

Sarah slowly brought the cigarette the rest of the way to her lips, taking a long drag on it before blowing the smoke out with less flare than before. “Well. That’s…” She paused. “Unsettling.”

“Both your parents are now dead and all you can say is ‘that’s unsettling?’” Nora asked with a hint of heat.

Sarah looked at the blonde detective with disdain. “My mother hasn’t been the same since her stroke,” she answered, steel in her voice. “I feel like I lost her then.”

“She lived alone,” Nikki pointed out. “Obviously she was still capable of taking care of herself. She could certainly have afforded the help if she needed it.”

“Certainly,” Sarah agreed. “But her personality was different. She became abrasive, rude after the stroke. It got harder and harder to be in her presence. It’s like my mother was gone, replaced by this foul-mouthed old bag who had the manners of a sailor on shore leave.”

“So you were estranged,” Nora pointed out diplomatically.

Sarah smirked. “What a polite way of putting it.” She stubbed out her cigarette. “Still… it’s a… shock… to hear she’s passed.”

“Not just passed,” Nikki reminded her. “Murdered.”

“As you said,” Sarah agreed. She shook her head. “Who would want to murder my mother? My father… that I can understand… even applaud. But my mother? She was in a wheelchair.” 

“You haven’t asked how,” Nora pointed out in a far less diplomatic tone.

“How what?” Sarah asked, her gaze fixing on Nora again.

“How she was murdered.”

A smile slowly etched onto Sarah’s features. “Oh dear,” she murmured. “Does that make me a suspect?”

Nikki took a breath, sensing Nora had a strong urge to reach across the table and smack the daughter of the deceased. She also suspected that wouldn’t look good in their report. Nikki put a warning hand on her partner’s knee, feeling Nora twitch in surprise. “Someone slit your mother’s wrists and left her in the bathtub to die.”

Sarah’s gaze traveled back to Nikki and lingered there. “Slit her wrists? And you don’t think it was a suicide?” 

“We don’t.” Nora’s voice was hard, but it ended almost in a squeak when Nikki unexpectedly squeezed her knee. She shot her partner a glare that could melt steel.

Nikki ignored her. “We haven’t ruled it out, but we suspect murder.”

“I see,” Sarah said thoughtfully. “Have you talked to my brother yet?”

“He’s next on our list,” Nikki informed her.

“I see,” Sarah said again. 

“Is there anyone you can think of that would want to harm your parents?” Nikki asked, her thumb absently stroking Nora’s jean-clad leg. She wasn’t even aware her hand was still lingering, savoring the heat of her partner through the denim. 

Nora swallowed, her eyes fixed on Nikki’s long fingers where they rested on the curve of her knee. It was telling that she had no desire to remove her partner’s hand. Nora raked a hand through her hair as she felt her body beginning to warm at the touch. Inwardly, she scolded herself at her inappropriate thoughts. Besides the fact that she was reacting to her partner of all people, she was doing it after informing a woman, albeit a stuck-up bitch of one, that her mother was dead. Surely that meant Nora was going to burn in hell at some point, she decided. 

“As I told the other detectives the other night, there are plenty of people who would want to kill my father. I’m baffled over my mother, however.”

“If you think of anyone…” Nikki slipped a business card out of her wallet and offered it to Sarah who studied it.

“Arthur Beaumont’s daughter,” Sarah said after a moment. “I thought your name was familiar.”

Nikki gave her a tight smile. “Well, we’ll leave you alone to… grieve.”

Sarah smiled as the two detectives stood. “Don’t judge me,” she told them as they looked down at her. “I’m just being honest in my feelings. I’m not going to sit here and lie to you just to make myself look innocent.”

“From what I’ve heard about you, Ms. Wentworth, no one would ever accuse you of being innocent,” Nikki drawled. She turned and walked away, leaving a bemused Nora to offer the now fuming Sarah Wentworth a cheeky smile before she followed Nikki back inside.

****

“Sorry,” Nikki muttered as they descended the steps. “I let her get to me after trying not to let her get to you.”

Nora hurried after her partner and shrugged as they reached the sidewalk. “Don’t apologize. I just wanted to slug her. I think a slap at her social standing was far more effective.”

Nikki almost giggled. Nora was quickly picking up on a thing or two about the upper class. She sighed instead. “Still. Not exactly professional of me.” She opened her car door and waited to get inside until Nora did.

They both shut their doors almost in sync. “Maybe,” Nora allowed, before turning to look at her partner and grinning. “But it was damn fun to watch.”

Nikki felt her stomach flip at that smile. “Don’t encourage me,” she chastised, but there was humor creeping in around the edges of her voice. “Did that interview even get us anywhere? Feels like we just let her piss us off.”

“We did,” Nora agreed as her smile faded. “I think she was messing with us. You got the last word, but I think we just got played.”

“I don’t like that,” Nikki muttered.

“You and me both,” Nora agreed. She started the car. “Have Darius take a hard look at Sarah Wentworth. She knows something.”

Nikki was already flipping open her phone. “She couldn’t have done it alone. Sarah is tall, but she didn’t look especially strong. I can’t see her subduing her mother, let alone her father.”

“Agreed,” Nora said as she eased them out into the street. “But she pings on my radar.”

Nikki bit down on her lip, deciding that making any jabs about Nora’s radar wouldn’t be a good idea. They were making progress between them as the day wore on, the tension between them easing more and more. The last thing Nikki wanted to do was to jeopardize that.

“What the hell was that about anyway? She didn’t even bat an eye when we told her that her mother was murdered. How can someone be that cold?” Nora asked, oblivious to Nikki’s amusement at her expense.

Nikki just shook her head. “It’ll be interesting to get a read on the brother. Wonder if there is no love loss there for the parents as well.”

“Yeah,” Nora sighed.

“Yeah,” Nikki echoed.

**** 

“A rehab center. Why am I not surprised?” Nora turned off the ignition as they looked at the glass structure before them. “This is the right address, right?”

Nikki studied her notepad and then let her hand drop into her lap. “Yep. Should have recognized it, actually.” She saw Nora give her a startled look out of the corner of her eye. “I just came off a stint in narcotics, remember? I’ve interviewed my share of witnesses here… dumped a few off at the front door as well.”

“Hmm.” Nora sighed.

A few minutes later, they were walking through the front lobby, a counselor named Stan leading the way. He was an older man, probably in his mid-sixties, Nora guessed, and had more than his share of run-ins with the police during his day if the looks he kept shooting at them over his shoulder were any indication

There were lots of plants and marble in the lobby, making the world appear to be nothing but a green and gray blur as they passed empty chairs and a few patients watching a big screen TV. Two young men were sitting on a couch, their feet propped up, as they watched ESPN.

“Real tough love you have here,” Nora muttered as they stepped into an elevator and waited for Stan to use his passkey to activate it, before pushing the button for the third floor.

Stan glanced at her and frowned. “They had to earn the privilege to watch,” he snipped.

The elevator doors opened a few moments later, revealing what almost looked like a hotel floor. They turned left. “Mr. Wentworth is at the end,” Stan informed them tightly. They arrived at the door, and Stan knocked. “David? It’s Stan. May I come in?”

There was no response.

“Obviously he doesn’t wish to have visitors,” Stan declared as he turned and started back the way they’d come.

“No so fast there, Stan,” Nikki said as she grabbed his elbow. “We need to talk to Mr. Wentworth. Open it.”

“I will not invade the man’s privacy.”

“Stan,” Nora almost purred his name. “Both of Mr. Wentworth’s parents have been murdered in the last seventy-two hours. David could be lying in there on the floor dead or dying, and we wouldn’t know because you don’t like cops and want to be a prick about it.”

Stan glanced at Nikki who smiled at him insincerely.

“Fine,” the man griped. He retrieved his key again and slid it home. The locked beeped, and he shouldered the door open, moving aside to let the detectives enter.

“Mr. Wentworth?” Nikki called out. “NOPD.”

The room was a wreck. Dirty clothes were everywhere, and there were multiple pizza boxes stacked haphazardly on the kitchen table. The space smelled like week old garbage.

Nikki’s nose wrinkled as Nora went to the bedside table and picked up one of several pill bottles. She studied the prescription, recognizing it as a popular sleep aide. The bottle was empty. Nora frowned as she picked up two more, discovering they were empty as well. She turned and looked at Stan. “Where is he?”

Stan shrugged. “Maybe he’s in the john.”

Nikki moved through the room and opened the door to the bathroom. Her hand flew to her nose and mouth as the smell of vomit assaulted her. 

“What?” Nora asked in alarm.

It was then that the curtains leading out to a small balcony billowed in the breeze. What Nora saw behind them made her heart leap up into her throat. “Sweet Jesus.”

Nikki pulled her firearm, as Nora raced to the porch, not sure what was happening but picking up on her partner’s sudden fear.

Stan stumbled out of the way, only to go still when he saw what had sent Nora scurrying outside.

David Wentworth was standing on the rail of his balcony; his arms stretched wide, with nothing between him and the ground three stories below but air. Stan yanked open the door and ran for help.

“David?” Nora called as she eased out onto the balcony. “David, my name is Nora.”

David turned and looked at her. He would normally have been a handsome man in his late twenties with his cleft chin, bronze skin, and dark sweep of hair that hung low on his forehead, but there was madness in his eyes, an unhinged quality Nora had seen in too many cokeheads in her time. There was vomit on his dark blue shirt and jeans; probably where he’d heaved up all the medicine he’d taken. She extended her arms to look as non-threatening as possible, and he laughed.

“Wanna fly too?” he asked, sounding almost like a little boy. “Fly, fly away.”

Nikki re-holstered her weapon and watched her partner take a step closer to David Wentworth. Her own heart was thundering in her chest now, so loud she could barely make out what Nora was saying. Only the soothing tones of her partner’s voice seemed to sink through, Nikki realized, and that at least made her feel calmer even if it wasn’t working for David.

“David, you need to come down now,” Nora continued as she inched forward another step. She could hear voices from below and guessed Stan had notified the proper people of what was happening. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Nikki easing around Wentworth’s other side. Fear for all of them settled like a cold ball in her belly. They would both try to grab Wentworth if he jumped. She just hoped his momentum wouldn’t fling them all over the edge. 

“Why?” His head fell back, and he took a deep, congested breath. “Flying means freedom. Freedom means flying. Wanna get away. Get away from everything I’ve done.”

Nikki wanted to ask what he meant, but she didn’t want to spook him. His attention was on Nora exclusively. Hopefully he didn’t even realize she was there.

“What did you do, David?” Nora asked casually.

David’s features lost some of their euphoria. “Bad things. Really bad things.” He looked down at the people swarming below. Suddenly, he smiled again. “Think they could catch me?”

Nora swallowed hard. “I think they’d rather not. You might hurt them.”

“Hurt them?” David frowned. “Don’t want to hurt anyone else.”

“That’s right,” Nora agreed, almost to the ledge now. “You don’t want to hurt anyone else. So you need to come down now.”

“But I wanna fly,” he whined, some part of his still functional brain clearly torn between his options.

“We’ll fly together tomorrow, okay?” Nora offered. “We’ll go some place even higher than this one. We’ll be able to soar in the clouds.”

With that, David abruptly turned and hopped off the ledge, nearly scaring both detectives witless.

“Promise?” David asked Nora like a hopeful child. His hands gripped her shoulders to keep him upright. He was completely unaware of the other woman behind him.

“Promise,” Nora said tightly. Her gaze drifted down to David’s left hand, and she had a moment of hatred for her job.

The broken soul she’d just talked off the ledge had dried blood under his fingernails.

****

“This is not the Wentworth’s week,” Nikki murmured as an ambulance pulled away from the front of the rehab center.

Nora sighed as the two detectives waited until the vehicle was out of sight before turning and heading back to David’s room. The lab techs would be there soon, so they knew they’d better get a look while they could. “Not exactly ours, either.”

“Is it wrong I almost feel sorry for him?”

“If it is, then we’re both screwed,” Nora confessed. She rubbed at her tight neck muscles and winced.

Nikki looked on sympathetically. It had been a hell of a day, and there was no end in sight. An appealing thought struck her, almost making her breathless by how badly she wanted to make it a reality. She licked her lips before mustering the courage to ask Nora what she wanted to ask. “Listen,” she said slowly.

Nora glanced at her.

“When we finally wrap up this day… can I… can I buy you a drink? Not in a… date… sort of way,” she hastily added. “Just… one partner buying another partner a beer after a really shitty day.”

Nora knew it was best to say no, to keep the distance that had formed between them. But she missed Nikki’s company desperately, and a part of her craved the chance for the two of them to be alone together, if only for a while. It was bound to be tense and awkward at times, but Nora weakly confessed to herself that she’d take even that if it meant spending time with Nikki.

The revelation was a terrifying one, but there was something strangely freeing about it as well.

“I…” Nora hesitated at the door to David’s room. “I’d like that.”

Nikki’s shoulders visibly relaxed. “Maybe we could go to Orange? Get a little dancing in while we’re at it?” she offered with a fraction of a smile.

The two partners stared at each other for a long moment.

“Yeah,” Nora finally said. “Sounds pretty damn perfect.”

Nikki watched her partner step through the door of David Wentworth’s apartment, and she swallowed. She’d really only meant the invitation to be from one partner to another. So why did it suddenly feel like so much more than that? Why did it feel like maybe she’d gone over that ledge after all?


	4. Chapter 4

Nora blew out a slow breath and gazed at her reflection in the mirror. Her hands were braced on either side of a sink in the precinct women’s locker room as she studied the confused eyes looking back at her. She’d changed out of her work clothes and into something more comfortable, acknowledging that the blue shirt and jeans that she’d kept in her locker for social occasions after work made her look pretty damn good. She could have thrown on a t-shirt, but she’d wanted to look nice.

She’d wanted to look nice for Nikki.

Nora closed her eyes and dropped her head, processing the emotions that tumbled through her. She wanted this night, wanted to spend the evening with her partner, especially after this crazy damn day. After talking David Wentworth off the ledge of his room, she and Nikki had spent the remainder of the day going through the mess he’d left behind, finding nothing but evidence of a once charming young man turned to ruin by his vices.

She needed this night with Nikki. It didn’t matter if they shared drinks, dinner, or just casual conversation; Nora craved Nikki’s nearness like a drug. Was her partner becoming a vice of Nora’s own? Or was Nikki just the thing Nora needed to save herself from her own darker demons?

Her chin lifted and her eyes fluttered open to look at her reflection once more. The truth stared back at her, reflected in the depths of her own eyes. “You are so screwed,” she muttered at herself.

Despite what she’d been telling herself ever since she’d kissed Nikki in the garden, Nora was beginning to accept the inevitable. All her stern demands to stop thinking about her partner as anything but her partner were falling on deaf ears. Her libido didn’t want to listen, and neither, it seemed, did her heart.

So here she was, in the women’s locker room at the precinct, coming to grips with the feelings she wished she wasn’t having and doing her damndest not to have a panic attack over them. “Pathetic,” she scolded her mirror image.

Pushing back from the sink, Nora straightened her shirt and took one last look at herself. Denying whatever was brewing between her and Nikki was only getting in the way of them being partners, and they made too damn good of a team to just walk away from it all.

Nora didn’t want to walk away, she realized… from anything.

So if she wasn’t going to run screaming from what was happening between her and Nikki, and she couldn’t just pretend that the heat between them didn’t exist, that only left her with one option.

Nora raked her hands through her hair and admitted to the truth that scared her to death. If she couldn’t walk away, then the only path to go was forward. Her body certainly seemed keen on the idea as it warmed with the mere thought of Nikki’s brown eyes, only to feel nearly feverish when she recalled their kiss in the garden.

Was it possible that she could make this thing with Nikki… work?

“I guess I’m going to find out,” she almost whispered as she made her decision. Her world stabilized with the knowledge, and a tiny fraction of a smile appeared before she headed for the door.

**** 

The squad room was virtually empty. Nikki leaned against her desk and crossed her ankles, her brown eyes taking in the vacant desks before drifting up to the clock on the far wall. It was nearly eight, and she was so hungry she felt like her stomach was trying to digest itself as a survival mechanism.

Biting her lip, the tall detective glanced toward the hall that led to the locker rooms. Nora had disappeared into the women’s locker room ten minutes ago and left Nikki to wonder if she should go in after her or just leave. Maybe Nora had come to her senses and decided to just hide, hoping that Nikki would just forget the whole notion of them grabbing a bite and a drink together.

“What the hell was I thinking?” Nikki muttered with disgust at herself. Nora didn’t want a relationship with her. The woman just wanted to be friends… partners. It was safer for all involved if Nikki went along with that, no matter how ridiculously hard it was proving to be. Inviting Nora out for drinks had been impulsive and foolish, but damn it all if she wasn’t ready to say goodnight to her yet. Nikki wanted just a few more hours of looking into those green eyes… of listening to Nora’s smoky voice… 

The notion to bolt flittered across Nikki’s mind. The day had been hard. Aside from watching a man nearly and literally throw his life away, they’d hit dead end after dead end on this case. She rolled her shoulders and felt them grind unhappily. A quick glance at her watch showed the time was thirty seconds past when she’d checked it last.

“You calling it a night?”

Nikki started at Dan’s voice behind her. She stood and pivoted. “Captain. I didn’t see you in your office.”

“Wasn’t in my office,” Dan replied with a slight smile. “Just got back from watching an interrogation. How’s the case coming? I heard about David Wentworth. Hell of a day you two are having. Are all your cases gonna be like this?”

“Shut your mouth,” Nikki fired back playfully. She liked her new boss. She also knew she’d like him more if he didn’t seem interested in Nora.

“Can I buy you a drink?” Dan asked, his voice sounding mostly casual but holding a hint of something else Nikki had enough experience to identify. 

The detective smiled. “Already have plans but thanks.”

“Maybe another time then,” Dan answered easily. “Night, Nikki. You two try to stay out of trouble tomorrow.”

“We weren’t trying to find it today,” she called after him as Dan walked away with a tiny wave over his shoulder.

Sighing, Nikki sat back down on the corner of her desk, her gaze instinctively moving to the hallway as she willed the closed door to open. 

The thought barely had time to form when the door to the women’s locker room opened and Nora strode out. Nikki’s partner had changed into a light blue, sleeveless shirt and jeans. Nikki felt her mouth go dry at the alluring site of Nora’s tan skin and muscles and really wished they were at the bar already because she suddenly felt the need for a stiff drink. She cleared her throat. “Ready?” Her voice cracked anyway.

Nora slung a duffle bag under her desk and picked up her purse. As Nikki watched, she saw Nora take a slow, deep breath before she straightened. “Yeah,” Nora said, her voice soft. “Sorry I made you wait. Had a little blood on me.”

“No problem,” Nikki replied slowly, sensing something from her partner but unsure what it was. “Don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”

The blonde detective smiled hesitantly. “How about Orange for a Tom Collins and some awesome onion rings?”

“Absolutely.” Nikki took a breath of her own and bravely laced her arm through Nora’s, trying to keep the mood playful. Her breath caught when her partner looked at her and gave her a slow smile. “Come on then. I’m buying.” She gave Nora a tug, and Nora chuckled at her antics, but Nikki noticed her partner wasn’t moving away. If anything, the other detective seemed to move closer.

Butterflies erupted in the pit of Nikki’s stomach along with something darker and sweeter. Nikki licked her lips as a thread of danger wove through her. Whatever this night held for them, Nikki suspected it was going to be more than just drinks between partners.

****

“Huh,” Nora murmured as they entered the club. A crowd was swaying on the dance floor to what she decided was an interesting mix of blues and techno. The beats were seductive and heavy, seeming to blanket the room in music. She’d never heard anything like it.

Imogene saw them from her position at the bar and waved enthusiastically. She pointed up at the loft, and Nora nodded and waved back, taking Nikki’s hand and threading them through the moving bodies toward the stairs. 

It was somewhat quieter as they sat down, so neither woman needed to shout much to be heard. Imogene arrived a few moments later and grinned.

“Well look who you be bringing back,” the owner said to Nora with a nudge to the detective’s shoulder. “Welcome back, Miss Nikki.”

Nikki smiled. “Glad to be here. I’m craving your onion rings and a Tom Collins.”

“Then you shall have both!” Imogene declared with a theatrical flourish that made both women chuckle. “Same for you, darlin’?” she asked Nora.

“Whatever Nikki’s having,” Nora agreed as her eyes drank in her partner. It had been here, Nora realized, in this very seat, when she’d finally let herself realize what she’d been feeling for Nikki. It seemed fitting to be back here now on the night where she’d decided to let this thing between them go wherever the currents took them.

Nikki met Nora’s gaze and smiled hesitantly. There was something in Nora’s eyes she couldn’t put her finger on, but the look her partner was giving her made her whole body heat. 

Imogene walked away, leaving them alone to simply look at one another. Her eyebrows arched as she took the stairs, and she grabbed a hostess’ arm as the young girl started to lead a couple upstairs. “The balcony is closed tonight,” she informed her.

“Oh. But I thought…” the hostess spluttered.

“Sorry for the inconvenience,” Imogene told the disappointed couple. She was sure one of them played for the Hornets. “Private party of sorts.”

They moved away, and Imogene glanced back at the stairs with a wicked smile. “There be magic in the air tonight,” she murmured with a sly smile before heading to the bar.

****

“You were amazing today,” Nikki finally spoke once Imogene was gone.

“Amazing?” Nora drawled before offering a wicked grin. “That kid almost took me over the rail.”

“I was worried you’d let him and try to break his fall.”

Nora chuckled guiltily. “Like you wouldn’t have been right behind us, holding onto our shirts and trying to pull us back up.”

Nikki responded with one of the cute, coy grins Nora was privately so fond of. The detective felt her stomach flip in reaction. She turned a little more serious as she leaned forward and put her elbows on the table. “So what do you think? Do you think he killed both his parents?”

“He was big enough and strong enough.” Nikki sighed and tunneled a hand through her dark hair. “If he was hopped up on something, he could have. We’ll know more when the DNA results come back on the blood under David’s nails.”

“I looked into his eyes,” Nora replied. “I was looking at a lost boy, not a killer. If he did it… someone had to be pulling his strings. I don’t think he has the mental capacity at this point to gauge the depth behind Charles Wentworth’s boat or to make his mother’s death look like a suicide.”

Imogene returned setting their orders down in front of them, which both women attacked hungrily. “That’s hot, y’all. Be careful. You talking about the Wentworth case, yeah?” she asked.

Nikki leaned back in her chair, sucking air through her teeth to cool her now burning tongue. “You know them?”

“The daughter. The ice princess. Lot of men seem to like the cold-hearted type, apparently. She in all the time… always with a different beau.”

Nikki and Nora exchanged a look before Nora mimicked Nikki’s posture. “I take it you don’t like her.”

“All about herself, that one,” Imogene agreed. “Bet she didn’t bat an eyelash when she found out her parents were dead.”

“You’d be right,” Nikki admitted, impressed with Imogene’s ability to read people.

“She got the devil in her,” Imogene murmured. “That much is for sure. Don’t know how much, but he’s in there.”

Nora blinked at that, while Nikki hiked one eyebrow expressively.

“Now enjoy your appetizer, lovely ladies. Be back soon to take your order,” Imogene announced as if she hadn’t just said something unsettling and creepy before breezing away.

“You don’t believe in that stuff, right?” Nikki asked as Nora began to fidget with the silverware. Her partner glanced up and shrugged a half second too late. “You do! You believe in voodoo and all that crap?”

“It’s not crap,” Nora muttered defensively. “You don’t mess with things like that. I’m a relatively good Irish Catholic girl. I stay away from that shit.”

Nikki was smiling broadly. “Nora Delaney, I would never have guessed voodoo gives you the willies.”

Nora pointed a finger at her. “Careful or I might just go get a doll with you likeness and place a curse on your credit cards or something.”

Nikki laughed in delight at having found a new button of her partner’s to push. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Don’t mess with me, Beaumont. I’ll make sure you never see a shoe sale again.”

Giggling almost hysterically, Nikki finally had to slap a hand over her mouth to get control of herself. The laughter had released some of the tightly wound tension she’d been feeling, though, and suddenly breathing seemed much easier. “You’re a cold woman,” she said with mock seriousness.

“Not as cold as Sarah Wentworth, apparently,” Nora fired back before popping a small onion ring in her mouth. She sat up straight and reached for her drink as soon as the battered food hit her tongue. “That’s not cold, though,” she muttered as she tried to chew the too hot food.

Nikki forced herself not to laugh having already burned her own mouth in her haste to slake the growling in her stomach. “Um… you think Sarah could have been her brother’s puppet master?”

Nora polished off a third of her drink before she spoke. “To what gain? We’ll have a look at the wills soon and that might tell us something, but it disturbs me to think those two kids would kill their parents for money. And why now?”

Nikki continued to snack as well, careful to blow on her food before nibbling on it. “I don’t know. I just got a vibe off Sarah.”

“Your gut telling you to look harder at her?”

“My gut is telling me that she definitely has a hand in this. She was playing us today and loving it. The whole thing was like a game to her. She’s into control… dominating other people.”

Nora’s eyebrows shot skyward. “You get that from your society contacts?”

“I got that from the maid. If she were any meeker she would have been a mouse. And did you see how everything had its exact place? The maid was so careful to put everything back just so.” Nikki picked up her drink and took a healthy swallow.

“I didn’t notice that,” Nora reluctantly admitted with a frown as she cast her thoughts back over their encounter with Sarah Wentworth. “Not sure what it tells us, but it tells us something.”

They finished their appetizer just as Imogene reappeared and took their order.

“How often does Sarah come in here?” Nikki asked the club owner.

“Once, sometimes twice a week. Almost every Wednesday,” Imogene answered readily. She made a sound of disapproval. “You two still talking work? Now… you lovely ladies need to table the shoptalk. You got good food, good drinks, and good company to enjoy.” She winked at Nikki. “Good music, too,” she continued casually. “Should it move you to enjoy it.” Placing her hand on Nora’s shoulder, she squeezed gently, knowingly, before leaving the two women alone.

Nora swallowed and had to clear her throat. “You think you might want to…” She waved her hand at the dance floor below, not sure if she wanted Nikki to accept or not.

Nikki licked her lips after taking another sip of her Tom Collins. Nora was acting differently toward her tonight… toward them, whatever the hell they were. She felt thrown, a little terrified, and very turned on. Had her partner decided to pursue this thing between them rather than retreat? Nikki knew she didn’t do relationships worth a damn, and she really, really didn’t want to fuck up this friendship she had with Nora. But for the first time in her life, Nikki knew she was falling in love with someone. She wasn’t sure she could turn away from this if Nora wanted it too. “I’d like that,” she confessed in an almost breathless voice.

Liquid heat chased through Nora’s veins and settled low in her belly. Not trusting herself to speak, Nora simply stood and held out her hand to her partner. She saw the questions in Nikki’s eyes as Nikki’s soft hand slipped into Nora’s own. Without a word, Nora turned and guided Nikki down the steps and into the middle of the throng of moving bodies. Her heart was hammering so hard she was seeing little slivers of silver dancing in her vision, but she ignored them as she turned once more to face Nikki.

It was then that Nikki took charge.

Stepping in against Nora’s warm, solid body, Nikki slipped her arms around her partner’s neck, watching Nora’s eyes widen almost comically. So far Nora had been making all the moves tonight, and Nikki decided it was her turn. “This okay?” she murmured into Nora’s ear, feeling the unmistakable tremor that moved through her partner’s body as her breath ghosted across Nora’s neck. Knowing that she could make Nora feel so much by doing so little gave Nikki a shiver of her own.

Her answer was a pair of warm hands that settled in the hollow of Nikki’s back. Nora began to move them slowly, swaying them to the seductive rhythm and heavy beats that vibrated up through the floor and through their joined bodies.

Nora took in Nikki’s familiar scent, pulling the other woman impossibly closer to take in more, to savor the feel of her curves. If she’d had any lingering doubts that she was attracted to Nikki Beaumont, they were melting in the heat between them. Nora’s hands skimmed up Nikki’s back as they moved, oblivious to some of the appreciative eyes that were watching them.

Nikki leaned back just enough to put her forehead against Nora’s. Certain that her knees would buckle if she weren’t holding onto her partner, Nikki let Nora lead, their bodies pressed tightly against each other. “Nora,” Nikki murmured, needing to be sure if what was happening was really happening. “What are we doing?”

“Dancing,” Nora teased, but the truth was in her eyes… in the gaze that held Nikki’s at close range.

Feeling herself tumble over that last step from infatuation and lust into something infinitely deeper and sweeter, Nikki closed her eyes and laid her head down on Nora’s shoulder. She felt her partner’s hands flex against the fabric of her shirt before Nora’s fingers skimmed up her back, one hand curling around the base of her neck as they moved to the music.

**** 

Three hours later, they tumbled out of Orange and into the humid night air. The partners giggled as they hurried down the sidewalk, determined to catch a trolley as thunder grumbled overhead. Nikki was in the lead, holding Nora’s uninjured hand and dragging her slightly buzzed partner along.

“Did you see that last guy?” Nikki called out over her shoulder. “The one with the big ‘Mama’s Boy’ tat on his arm? I think he nearly fell off his chair watching us dance.” She giggled again, feeling lighter than she had in weeks. “We so should have…”

Nikki’s voice trailed off as she felt Nora jerk on their joined hands. Suddenly, she was being hauled around, her back hitting the brick wall of a dark alley a second before Nora’s heat pressed against her and a hot, hungry mouth snared her own. Just like that, Nikki’s knees buckled, and she clung to Nora weakly, her lips parting to allow Nora to taste her. The kiss deepened, and both women moaned softly in time with another rumble of thunder.

Nikki tasted like chocolate and liquor as Nora braced her hands against the wall on either side of her partner’s warm body. She been aching to do this for hours, and the first moment she found herself alone with Nikki, she’d seized the opportunity.

When they finally parted, both of them could barely breathe. Nora laid her head on Nikki’s shoulder as she gasped for breath, waiting for the strength to return to her limbs so she could stand. Nikki’s hands moved from Nora’s back to frame her partner’s face, forcing Nora to lean back enough so she could look in Nikki’s eyes.

“Nora,” Nikki breathed brokenly. “I thought…”

“I know,” Nora answered. “I know what I said. I know how I’ve acted. I just… I can’t…” Then she leaned in and found Nikki’s mouth again, relieved when her partner didn’t stop her. Nikki’s hands threaded through Nora’s hair and pulled her closer, kissing her more thoroughly than Nora had ever been kissed. By the time they parted, Nora wasn’t sure of her own name. All she knew was the fire raging inside her body and the desperate need for Nikki to quench it

Lightning arced across the sky as Nikki tried to catch her breath, staring at Nora with both shock and need. “We… we need to get you someplace before the storm… your cast…” She was babbling, her comments almost incoherent as she tried to get her brain to function.

Nora gave her a suddenly shy smile. “Your place or mine?” she teased.


	5. Chapter 5

Nora stared hard at the cell phone gripped between her palms. Rain sluiced down the windows of the cab she was nestled inside, and her nose wrinkled a little at the smell of stale cigarette smoke and body odor that leached from the cracked and faded leather seat she sat on. This was not how this night was supposed to end. Twenty minutes ago, she’d had Nikki Beaumont pressed against a wall and was kissing her senseless. Nora wanted desperately to still be doing that now, preferably in a big bed with a lot fewer clothes.

“You trying to conjure a police emergency?” Nikki’s voice came to Nora from the other side of the cab, easing into the distance between them and barely loud enough to hear over the rain pattering against the car.

“Huh?” Nora looked up at her.

“That’s what you said to me at my daddy’s party when you caught me staring at my phone.” The faintest trace of a smile outlined Nikki’s lips. She had an elbow propped against the door and her head resting against her fist.

Nora snorted. “No. I wasn’t trying to conjure a police emergency.” She looked back down at the phone. “I was wondering how long it would take Dan to figure it out if I changed my number.”

Nikki chuckled, charmed by the response. “So he wouldn’t interrupt any more… moments?” she asked softly.

The blonde detective shivered slightly, recalling what Dan had interrupted all too well. She and Nikki had made it into the taxi just as the rain had started, but rather than heading for Nikki’s as they’d planned, they were now detouring to David Wentworth’s hospital room. “He always had the worst timing,” Nora grumped before glancing at Nikki again.

Brown eyes studied Nora’s face intently. “So no second thoughts?” Nikki asked hesitantly.

Nora swallowed and shook her head. “None.”

Nikki had to look away, feeling as if she was drowning in Nora’s regard. Nikki focused on the road ahead, seeing past the windshield wipers that were doing their best to keep up with the deluge as soft strains of zydeco emitted from the radio. The rain was so heavy the streetlights were nothing more than blurs of color against black and brick.

“You?” Nora asked, her voice all smoke and honey. It seemed to slide from Nikki’s ears and pool between her legs.

Nikki wiped at her brow as beads of sweat began to gather there. She looked at Nora and slowly shook her head.

“So now what?” Nora asked, slowly expelling the breath she’d been holding as she waited for Nikki’s response.

“We check on David,” Nikki suggested. “We have to put the case first, right?”

Nora smiled just a little before nodding. “Right.”

Shrugging nonchalantly, Nikki added, “And when the case is done…” She trailed off suggestively.

“There will always be another case,” Nora reminded her.

“I know.” Nikki glanced at her partner’s cell phone. “But we can change our numbers then.”

Nora chuckled at that.

“Seriously,” Nikki said after a moment. “I… I want to do this right. I want… I want to do right by you… if that makes sense.” She licked her lips nervously.

Nora took a deep breath and nodded her agreement. “Perfect sense. I want to do the same.”

Nikki licked her lips again. “So does this mean… we’re… dating, detective?”

Nora couldn’t help it. Her eyes darted nervously to the cabbie, but he didn’t even so much as glance at them. Either he couldn’t hear their quiet conversation or was intentionally tuning them out. Both options worked just fine with her. Looking back at Nikki, Nora smiled. “Looks that way.” Her stomach flipped at the mere thought, like she’d just plummeted down the steepest hill of the world’s tallest roller coaster. She tightened her grip on her cell phone, ready to hold on and enjoy the ride.

**** 

“Took you two long enough,” Dan drawled as he met them in the hospital waiting room. Both of his detectives were soaked to the bone, getting drenched as they’d dashed around a handful of cars parked under the overhang at the emergency room door.

“Sorry,” Nora replied as she ran a hand through her hair and shook out some of the excess water. “We were across town.”

Dan paused and looked curiously at the two of them. “Together?”

Nikki watched Nora freeze at the slip. “We just grabbed dinner and some drinks. Talked about the case,” she supplied easily.

“Ah. So your plans tonight weren’t with another man. Good to know,” Dan drawled with a sexy grin for Nikki. He turned the same smile on Nora. “Sorry to drag you both out in this mess,” he said with a wave at the sheets of rain blowing by just outside the ER doors. “I figured you’d want to be here.”

Nora wasn’t so sure about that but didn’t say so. “What have we got?”

“Like I said on the phone… David tried again. Smashed open his window with a chair and tried to jump.”

“Jesus,” Nikki muttered. “Poor kid.”

“His sister was here. She called for help and some orderlies managed to haul him back inside before he could take a flying leap.” Dan shook his head and put his hands on his hips. “Poor kid is really messed up.”

“That’s putting it mildly,” Nora answered. “Why wasn’t he on suicide watch?”

“He was… still is,” Dan corrected. “They had him tied down, but his sister loosened his restraints.”

Nikki and Nora exchanged glances.

“What?” Dan asked, reading the look between them with ease, thanks to years of experience on the force. “You think the sister had a hand in this?”

They both shrugged, but it was Nikki who answered. “She pissed us both off. Not sure that makes her a killer, though.”

“Not in a court of law. Nothing but the truth, ladies. We need cold, hard facts.”

Nora wanted to roll her eyes at her superior. She couldn’t count the number of times Dan had said those exact words or some variation thereof over the years. “Where are the Wentworths now?”

“David is useless to you tonight. He’s been sedated. We’ve got the sister in the nurse’s lounge.”

“Thanks, Captain,” Nikki replied. “We’ll get moderately dried off so we don’t drip everywhere and then we’ll question her.”

“Let me know what you find first thing in the morning,” he told them.

They both mock saluted Dan’s back as he walked away before turning to face each other.

“We’re going to be up all night,” Nora muttered.

“I was planning on that before,” Nikki answered saucily.

Nora coughed a little to cover the very un-detective-like gasp Nikki’s cheeky comment wrung out of her. 

****

“Ms. Wentworth?”

Sarah Wentworth looked up from stubbing out her cigarette in a makeshift ashtray and frowned when she saw the two detectives who’d questioned her early in the day. “Oh. They sent you two again.”

Nora gripped both ends of the towel she now sported around her neck and willed herself not to give Wentworth the verbal sparring match she was jonesing for. “We heard about David. We thought we’d swing by and see how he was doing.”

Sarah waved a dismissive hand at both of them as she fished in her purse for her pack of cigarettes. “They gave him enough drugs to drop a water buffalo. He’s exactly where he likes to be right now… doped up and oblivious.”

Sadly, Nikki thought, that was probably true. “So what happened?”

A fresh cigarette appeared between Wentworth’s fingers, and she lit it with an engraved silver lighter. She took a moment to suck down a good lungful before blowing out the smoke in the detective’s direction. “He was whining about the restraints being too tight. I loosened them a touch thinking there was no way he could get free.” She snorted. “Silly me.”

Nora suspected Sarah Wentworth had never done a silly thing in her life. “You aren’t supposed to smoke in here,” she pointed out.

Sarah gave her a smirk as she brought the cigarette to her lips for another drag. “Arrest me.”

“Confess to having a hand in killing your parents, and I’ll gladly do that,” Nora promised.

“A hand?” Sarah asked as she leaned back in her plastic chair and regarded the detectives, standing wet and bedraggled before her. “You mean you don’t think I could push daddy dearest’s fat ass over the side of his yacht?” She chuckled a raspy sound. “I’m so disappointed.”

“You don’t seem very upset that the members of your family are dropping off at an alarming rate,” Nikki re-entered the conversation. “Maybe that has something to do with a hefty inheritance?”

Sarah smiled, her first genuine grin since the detectives had met her. “And it is quite hefty,” she agreed. “Your daddy would be green with envy,” she said with a sneer at Nikki.

“I doubt that. My daddy thinks there is such a thing as having too much of a good thing.”

“There is no such thing as too much money, sweetheart,” Sarah chided Nikki. “But what would you know? Being a public servant and all…”

Nikki bristled, but Nora stepped around her, blocking her view of Wentworth and snapping her back into the moment.

“And being public servants, we’re willing to toil away for long hours until we catch killers, Ms. Wentworth. I promise you, we will catch the persons or person responsible for your parents’ deaths.” Nora looked down on the woman with disdain.

“I feel so much safer already,” Sarah said with an airy laugh, before taking another drag on her cigarette. “You think I had a hand in killing my mother and father, Detective? Prove it.”

“Is that a dare?” Nora drawled, her voice sinking to its lowest register.

Wentworth hesitated at the intensity in Nora’s sharp, green gaze. Instead of responding, she merely took another puff on her cigarette and smiled.

**** 

“Too bad David didn’t try to take her with him,” Nikki hissed as they walked down the hall a few minutes later. “That woman makes me want to scream.”

“Why would she be baiting us unless she either: A, wants to draw us away from the real killer, or B, is the mastermind behind this whole damn thing and thinks she’s too damn smart to get caught.” Nora stopped walking and turned to face Nikki who drew up next to her. “This is a game to that woman. She doesn’t care that she’s playing with people’s lives here.”

“All she cares about is the money,” Nikki agreed.

“Looks like you were right about motive,” Nora congratulated her partner’s astuteness.

Nikki shook her head. “Money is big motivator here,” she agreed, “but my gut tells me you might have hit on something with the revenge idea, too.”

“Yeah?” Nora crossed her arms and listened.

“She talks about her father and mother with such disdain,” Nikki recalled. “Sarah hates them both. We need to find out why.”

“Maybe the business partner will be able to tell us,” Nora suggested.

“Maybe.” Nikki sighed and shouldered open the door to David’s hospital room. They had both wanted to see if he was safe and sound before checking out the room just down the hallway where the disturbed young man had tried to leap to his death.

Nora sighed when she saw him strapped to the bed. He was sleeping hard, the drugs in his system making him practically comatose. “Poor, stupid kid.” She fished her cell phone out of her pocket and flipped it open. “I’m gonna see if I can get some security on him. I don’t want Sarah Wentworth to be alone with her brother another minute.”

Nikki nodded as she watched the slow rise and fall of David’s chest. “You know the forensics are going to come back in a way that implicates him in his parents’ deaths,” she whispered.

“Hey, Dan, it’s Nora. Call me when you get this. I want to get some security on David Wentworth.” She snapped her phone closed. “He killed them, Nikki. I know it in my gut.”

“But you think someone was pulling his strings,” Nikki guessed. She had the same feeling.

“And I think we both know who that is,” Nora murmured bitterly.

They both stared at David Wentworth as he slept the sleep of the dead, wondering if they should feel sorry for him or not.

****

Nikki felt sunlight, warm and welcoming, on the side of her face. She stirred sleepily, groaning a little as her back protested the odd position she’d fallen asleep in. Dan had finally called back two hours after Nora had requested a security detail and complained about overtime and lack of manpower, leaving Nikki and Nora to wait out the night in hard plastic chairs, instead of curled up in a nice big, soft bed with each other. 

Recalling how their plans had been interrupted, Nikki pouted as she approached wakefulness. The scent of coffee arrived when she inhaled deeply, and she blinked her eyes open to find Nora standing over her, a soft, beautiful smile on her lips. “Hi,” Nikki croaked.

“Hi,” Nora greeted in return.

“How long have you been standing there?” Nikki wondered.

The corners of Nora’s eyes crinkled as her smile widened a fraction. “Brought you some coffee and a bite to eat,” she replied, evading Nikki’s question.

Nikki watched with interest as Nora wheeled a tray over and set a white plastic bag and coffee cup on it. She had the strong suspicion that Nora had been watching her sleep for quite some time. The thought was enough to perk her right up and make her stomach sommersault. She cleared her throat. “Why didn’t you wake me when you left?”

“The reinforcements finally arrived.” Nora pulled a chair closer to her partner and sat down. “A protective detail is out in the hall.”

A quick glance through the small window of the door proved the fact to Nikki. “You really are stealthy. I didn’t hear you leave.”

“Didn’t want to wake you. Long night.” Nora tore open the bag and handed Nikki a Styrofoam container. “Cinnamon roll.”

Nikki moaned almost orgasmically eliciting a raised eyebrow from Nora. “Coffee and pastries in the morning. You know how to treat a girl right.”

“I’ll have to remember that,” Nora replied faintly.

Brown eyes locked on green, and Nikki felt her whole body heat. “Um…” she scratched the back of her neck. It really was amazing how Nora could get her hot and bothered with the most innocent of words. She chuckled and pointed a finger at her partner. “No fair. I can’t have witty banter until I’ve had my first hit of coffee.”

“Was I being witty?” Nora took a sip from her own cup of coffee as Nikki did the same.

“You were being something,” Nikki accused, giving Nora a wink. She scooped up her fork and began to go to work on her breakfast, shifting her mind off her partner and back onto the last twenty-four hours of their case. They’d inspected David’s previous room last night, but there was no proof to be found that Sarah had released her brother and encouraged him to attempt a swan dive from the fifth floor. Finding something to use against her was unfortunately going to take a lot more digging.

“I called Maxwell Anderson, Charles Wentworth’s business partner. He said he could see us at ten,” Nora said, before taking another sip of coffee.

Nikki glanced at her watch. “Perfect. That gives me time to run by my place and change.” She glanced at Nora. “What about you?”

“I can change and shower at the station. I always keep a few sets of clothes on hand for occasions just like this.” Nora brought her coffee cup to her lips.

“You can shower at my place,” Nikki offered innocently.

Nora choked, sitting up quickly as she tried not to pour coffee down her shirt.

“Whoa, tiger,” Nikki said on a laugh. “Relax. I’m not going to climb in there with you,” she teased. “When I start something with you, I plan on taking my time to finish.” She winked again, hearing Nora swallow audibly. Nikki paused, wondering if Nora had reconsidered things in the light of day. “Unless you’re…”

“No second thoughts,” Nora cut her off quickly, but gently. She wiped at her chin. “You just… caught me by surprise. My mind sorta went…” 

“Into the gutter?” Nikki suggested.

“Eyeah.”

Nikki smiled triumphantly. “Don’t crawl out of there on my account, sugar.”

Nora laughed, feeling the sexual tension between them ease to a more bearable level. “We need to get going if we’re going to clean up before meeting Anderson.”

Shoveling in another bite of her breakfast, Nikki got to her feet. “Right behind you.”

“By the way,” Nora said hesitantly, an edge of bashfulness in her voice before she opened the door.

Nikki looked up expectantly.

“You’re beautiful when you sleep.”

Nikki felt her breath catch deep in her chest as Nora flung the door open and strode out of the hospital room, greeting the officer on duty as if she hadn’t just said something disgustingly romantic. Nikki brought her coffee cup to her lips and bit the plastic rim, hoping it would hide the sudden, uncontrollable grin that lit up her whole face.


	6. Chapter 6

“Good morning to you, Officer.”

Nora’s head lifted at the sound of Darius’s voice. The informant was leaning against her black El Camino in the parking lot of the precinct, a smug smile on his face. He dipped his head at the taxi that was pulling away from the curb. 

“Long night?” he asked cheekily.

Now that she was away from Nikki, Nora found the lack of quality sleep catching up with her. She’d left her partner to shower and change at Nikki’s brownstone, deciding it was best if she headed on to the precinct alone. If she’d followed her partner inside, there were no guarantees they would have made it into work at all. “Aren’t they all these days?” She moved past him, and Darius fell into step next to her. “Nikki isn’t in yet.”

“I know.” Darius held up his cell phone and waggled it from side to side when Nora gave him a questioning glance. “She was in the shower when I called. You coulda been in there with her, girl.”

Nora’s cheeks heated, but she wasn’t surprised to learn that Darius was in the know about them. The man was in the know about damn near everything else, so it figured he’d be clued in on what was happening practically under his nose. Darius also seemed to be Nikki’s confidant, something Nora rather wished she had as well. “What can I do for you, Darius?” she asked tiredly.

He gripped her elbow and stopped walking, forcing Nora to practically spin around to face him. “You can let me buy you a good cup of coffee and hear what I found out about Sarah Wentworth.”

The detective hesitated. “I need to report in.”

“You need to solve the case more, no?” His eyes sparkled with mischief.

Nora sighed in defeat. “Fine.” She wasn’t in the mood to talk to Dan anyway. If anything, she felt more like kicking her boss in the shins. Dan had interrupted her plans with Nikki, and he was responsible for making the muscles of her back feel like they’d been twisted into a pretzel. “Coffee sounds more appealing anyway.”

“And I’m much more appealing company than your boss. Café du Monde?” Darius offered.

“At least you know how to treat a girl right.”

“Nah,” Darius said. “You’ll pay for the coffee in the end with the money you give me for this info. It’s as good as gold.”

Nora shook her head and headed toward her car. “It better be. I want this case over sooner rather than later.”

****

Nikki wandered into the precinct freshly showered and more fully caffeinated. Nora had declined her offer to use her shower, opting to head into the station instead to clean up and change. Nikki had been disappointed, but she also suspected Nora was being the stronger of the two of them. If she’d had the woman alone for even a few minutes, she knew she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from touching Nora.

It was really almost insane when Nikki thought about it. She’d dated plenty of men and women, but she’d never really struggled with being able to keep her hands to herself. Until now.

The object of her musings was nowhere to be seen. Nikki frowned, wondering if Nora might be in the shower and how much trouble she’d get into if she decided to go peek.

Georgia walked by at that moment, and Nikki smiled. It had been a few days since they’d seen each other, even in passing. “Morning,” she greeted cheerily.

The other detective just grunted and kept walking.

Nikki cleared her throat and scratched the bridge of her nose. Obviously, Georgia was sore about having two cases yanked away from her and decided to take out her ire on Nikki rather than the man responsible.

“Beaumont,” Dan called to her from his office at the precise moment he’d crossed her mind. He gave her a come hither crook of his finger before disappearing back inside. 

Nikki frowned and scanned the bullpen for her partner again only to come up empty. With a sigh, she walked to Dan’s office and stepped inside, closing the door when he motioned her to do so. Rather than sit, she leaned against the door and waited.

“How’s the kid?” Dan asked as he dumped some sugar into his steaming mug of coffee. 

“Still sedated. The shrinks will have a go at him today.” Nikki tore her gaze away from his coffee, the scent nearly making her mouth water. Clearly, she needed another cup.

“You think he’ll cop to killing his parents?” Dan blew on his coffee and took a cautious sip as he leaned back in his chair to regard his newest detective.

“Won’t matter if he does until they can declare him medically fit. A decent lawyer would just blame the drugs.”

Dan shrugged in acceptance of that truth. “I’ll be happy if he points a finger at the sister. Then we can at least get a warrant.” He swallowed another mouthful of coffee before leaning forward again and nudging a group of files at Nikki. “Speaking of lawyers… the Wentworths finally came through. Both wills are in there.”

Pushing off the door, Nikki sauntered closer and scooped up the folders, bringing them to her chest and hoping that was all Dan wanted to know. She was eager to find her partner and get that second cup of coffee.

“Can I ask you something?” Dan asked before Nikki had time to step back.

The detective blinked mildly, but she felt something in her stomach flip. “Sure,” she said slowly.

“Nora dating someone?” Dan wondered with a tiny smirk.

Nikki shifted and clutched the folders closer to her chest. “What makes you ask?”

Dan shrugged casually and tried to act nonchalant. “She seems… preoccupied.”

“She’s working a case,” Nikki retorted with an edge of defensiveness.

“Not in a bad way,” Dan continued. “Just seems like she has her mind on something… or someone. I haven’t seen her smile so much in… hell, I don’t know when.”

The nervous ball that was coiling in Nikki’s stomach abruptly unraveled, and she felt giddy warmth flood through her. “Really.”

“Yep. I’ve known your partner a long time. I can always tell when she’s taken with someone.”

“Maybe it’s me,” Nikki suggested with a cheeky smile. “I’m her new partner, after all.”

Dan chuckled. “Mmm. Don’t give a man such wicked thoughts.” He winked at her, completely thrown off the scent of Nora’s love life by what he assumed to be a joke.

“Like you weren’t having them anyway,” Nikki ventured and was rewarded with a heartier laugh from her captain. “Anything else?”

Dan shook his head. “Just check in with me around lunchtime if you don’t have something sooner. The mayor is starting to chew on my ass about this one. Apparently Charles Wentworth was a big donor.”

“Icky,” Nikki drawled. “Will do, Captain.” She made her way out of the office, steering clear of Georgia when the other detective practically scowled at her. Nikki frowned again when she saw Nora’s still empty desk. 

She tossed the files down and slipped off her leather jacket, throwing it over the back of her chair. Her cell phone buzzed on her hip, and she unclipped it, smiling when she saw Nora’s name on the caller ID. “Hello, beautiful,” she purred when she answered.

There was a pause on the other end of the line, and Nikki’s smile widened as she imagined Nora’s flummoxed look in response to her greeting. “Hey,” Nora answered with a slight smile in her voice. “You at the station?”

“Just checked in with Dan. I have the Wentworths’ wills if you’re in the mood for some light reading.”

“Good. Can you meet me and Darius at Café du Monde?”

“Are there coffee and beignets involved?” Nikki inquired.

“What do you think?”

“Be there in fifteen.”

****

They’d chosen to sit outside, enjoying the warmth of the mid-morning sun on their backs as they sipped their coffee and savored breakfast. Nora was reading over the wills, something Nikki had already done when she’d hopped a trolley to her destination. Darius was still being tightlipped with his information until Nora had finished reading, but he was enjoying watching the two women as they sat so close they were practically touching.

“Not much of a surprise here,” Nora murmured as she studied Charles’s will. “Both parents left everything to Sarah and David. At least they both put David’s money in a trust so he can’t get his hands on it until he’s clean.”

“Did you see who is in charge of that trust?” Nikki drawled after swallowing a sip of coffee.

“Yeah. Sarah wasn’t kidding when she said her inheritance was a hell of a lot of money. I can’t really wrap my head around that many zeroes,” Nora muttered. She closed the file and tossed it on the table before leaning back in her chair. “Okay, Darius. Spill. We’ve got a ten o’clock appointment with Charles’s business partner.”

“Anderson?” Darius nodded in approval. “Good. He might be able to help you.”

“Yeah?” Nikki asked. “What info does he have?”

“He might know where Charles’s real will is.” Darius popped a bite into his mouth and grinned as Nora and Nikki blinked almost owlishly at him.

“The real will?” Nora asked.

“Yep.” Darius leaned down and fetched a file folder from the worn brown leather satchel he carried. He handed the folder to Nikki. “Exhibit A, ladies.”

Nora leaned over, her shoulder pressing against Nikki’s as her partner flipped the file open to reveal a collection of black and white photos. Sarah Wentworth was getting cozy with an older, semi-attractive man. In some shots, they were dancing close; in others, they were kissing. The last few photos made Nikki shut the file.

“My eyes,” Nikki grumbled, fighting the urge to slam them closed.

“My appetite,” Nora added as she pushed away the rest of her breakfast. “Did you watch the whole show?” Nora asked Darius with distaste.

“An associate took those photographs of Ms. Wentworth getting her jollies with the gentleman you saw there,” Darius answered with a smug expression. “But if you looked at the rest of the photos… yeah, he stayed.”

“Ew.” Nikki picked up her coffee and took a swallow. “So who is the guy?”

“Allan Milligan.”

“Why does that name sound familiar?” Nora wondered as she picked up the folder containing the wills and opened it once more.

“He is the attorney for both Charles and Marjorie Wentworth.” Darius dropped his information bomb neatly into the silence, smiling smugly as he leaned back in his chair and watched the detectives react to it. 

“Sonofabitch,” Nora growled.

“Sarah is sleeping with her parents’ attorney? Can you say conflict of interest, boys and girls?” Nikki eased forward and crossed her arms on the table. “Still, we have no proof at this point that there is anything but sex going on there, Darius.”

“That’s why you need to see Maxwell Anderson,” Darius replied. “He should have a copy of Charles’s original will. The one he had drawn up four weeks ago that cut Sarah out of everything.”

Nora’s grin was practically devilish as she leaned over and kissed the informant on the cheek. “Good as gold,” she declared.

“You know it, baby.”

**** 

They drove to Anderson’s house in silence, each of them digesting the morning’s surprising revelations. As Nora rolled to a stop at a red light, Nikki shifted her gaze onto her partner, her mind getting momentarily distracted as the sunlight caught Nora’s hair and rimmed her profile. Nora knew she was attractive, but she certainly didn’t think she fell into the “beautiful” category, but at that moment, Nikki found her breathtaking. The light changed, and they moved forward, breaking the spell Nora seemed to have cast over her partner. Nikki shook herself mentally and physically. 

“What was I thinking about just now?” Nikki asked herself with some amusement.

Nora turned and looked at her blankly. “What?”

“My mind wandered,” Nikki explained, keeping the subject of her meandering thoughts to herself.

“Any place interesting?” Nora asked innocently.

Nikki just smiled and looked out her window.

“Oh.” Nora’s voice was faint and a slow blush crawled up her cheeks. She scratched the bridge of her nose and shifted in her seat, clearing her throat self-consciously. “Um…”

Nikki laughed softly and glanced at her partner again. “You’re so damn cute when you’re flustered.”

The blush got worse. “Quit it,” Nora huffed, but it was clear in her tone she wasn’t mad. She nearly leapt out of her skin when Nikki lightly traced a fingernail down the side of her cheek.

“You look good in red,” Nikki teased wickedly. 

“Don’t make me pull this car over,” Nora threatened as she rubbed her tingling cheek.

“Am I being bad? You gonna cuff me, Officer?”

Nora almost broadsided a parked car. “Don’t tempt me,” she replied, sounding oddly out of breath.

Nikki remained silent for a moment as she watched Nora swallow again and run a nervous hand through her hair. “I like tempting you,” she said a little more seriously.

Green eyes darted a quick look Nikki’s way. “And I think I like being tempted,” Nora answered in a husky voice. “But could you not do it while I’m driving?”

That got a light laugh from Nikki and Nora smirked at her, returning her attention to the road.

They finally arrived at Maxwell Anderson’s home, which Nikki decided was a good thing since she was starting to contemplate running her hand along Nora’s jean-clad thigh. Another minute and she wouldn’t have been able to stop herself.

Exiting the car into the increasing humidity, they could literally feel it cling to their skin and clothes.

“So much for a nice fall day,” Nikki grumbled as she removed her jacket and waited for Nora to do the same. They each tossed their coats into the back seat of the El Camino, not that there was any need in a neighborhood this high end. They both privately thought they needed to worry about the car more, in case someone decided to have it towed.

“Nice house,” Nora muttered as she looked up at what she supposed someone would describe as a “stately residence.” She opened the wrought iron gate and let Nikki enter first, getting a flirty wink from her partner as she passed. Nora rolled her eyes.

Anderson met them on the porch before they were even up the steps. He was a large man in height and girth, a mop of unruly red hair on his head. His light blue eyes were kind when Nikki and Nora got close enough to see them in his ruddy complexion. As they approached, he slipped off a pair of gardener’s gloves and gave them a hesitant smile.

“Good morning, Officers,” Anderson greeted them cordially.

“Good morning.” Nora took the lead, introducing both herself and her partner. “We’re sorry to bother you at such a difficult time, Mr. Anderson.”

“Thank you for your thoughtfulness, and please, call me Max. Everyone else does.” He stepped back to allow them up on the porch. “I just had some tea set out in the garden. Would it be okay to answer your questions there?”

“That would be nice,” Nora said politely even though the thought of being out in the rising heat and humidity was unappealing.

Together, they walked around the porch to the back of the house, and Nora had to admit she was impressed when she saw the garden. Flowers and vegetables were everywhere, perfuming the air nicely. She took in a deep breath and decided sitting out here wasn’t so bad after all. “Nice,” she complimented.

Max beamed. “Thank you. My pride and joy next to my wife and children.” He motioned them to sit at an iron bistro table with a terra cotta mosaic on the surface.

“So tell us about Charles and Marjorie,” Nora finally said when they were settled.

Max sighed. “I was business partners with Charlie for twenty years, but I never really knew the man outside the workplace. I mean, we socialized at the occasional fundraiser, but it wasn’t like I had the two of them over for tea and crumpets.”

Nora cast a quick look at Nikki. “I understand their marriage was a volatile one.”

“They would go at each other like bobcats over fresh meat,” Max admitted wryly. “I hate to speak ill of the dead, but I suppose you need the truth to catch their killers.”

“Killers?” Nikki interjected mildly. “You think there is more than one?”

Max pursed his lips as he picked up the blue teakettle sitting on a tray in the middle of the table and began to pour each of them a cup. “I suppose…” He sighed again. “I suppose I already have my suspicions about who is behind this, but I would rather not say because it could be my dislike talking.”

“Fair enough,” Nora replied, thinking they would get the information out of him soon enough. She accepted the tea from him gingerly, assuming he was plying them with something overly sweet and floral tasting. She was pleasantly surprised when she took a sip and found nothing but hot tea with a hint of honey.

“Marjorie and Charlie were a marriage about money. Everything with those two was always about money. It wasn’t until the end when they were starting to see that there was more to life than that,” Max said between sips. “When Marjorie had her stroke, it changed her. She started looking at the world differently. She came to me one day and we talked for a spell. She wanted to know if I was proud of my children, if I felt I’d made my mark on this world somehow.”

Nikki leaned forward. “And what did you tell her?” she asked gently.

He smiled. “I love my children, Detective Beaumont. They aren’t perfect, but I did my best to bring them up in a way that taught them good values. I wanted my children to be honest and kind, and despite any of their other faults, I think I succeeded.”

“And Marjorie knew she and Charles hadn’t,” Nora guessed.

Max nodded. “David… David is a lost boy. He’s not bad, just confused. He was always given everything he ever wanted, so he couldn’t comprehend why he can’t keep taking the drugs. When he got clean and sober about six months ago… I was so proud of him. There was a smart man in there that had just been waiting to get out. There was a kindness to him that was very appealing.”

“He’s back on the drugs now,” Nikki pointed out.

Max set the teacup down. “I heard. It happened a few weeks before their deaths.” He shook his head. “I really thought he was going to stay clean. He seemed so much happier that way.” He picked the teacup up again and took a sip.

Nora’s eyes narrowed, seeing something in Max’s body language and demeanor. “You think someone got him hooked again on purpose.”

There was a moment of tense silence, and then Max lifted his eyebrows in surprise. “I suppose that’s why you’re a cop and I’m not,” he said. “I think his sister might have had a hand in it. Sarah likes to control things. Her parents, her brother…” The distaste was clear in his features. “I’m not sure I would call her a psychopath,” he said after a moment of indecision, “but the only thing she cares about is money…”

“And winning,” Nikki guessed.

Max nodded slowly. “That’s a good way of putting it, Detective.” 

“Max,” Nora asked casually, “do you have a copy of Charles’s will?” 

“I believe so, why?”

This man wasn’t a suspect, Nora decided. He didn’t stand to gain anything from Marjorie and Charles’s deaths, and he just didn’t have a killer instinct in him. She jerked her head at Nikki, indicating her partner should show him the folder they’d brought with them. “You know Charles’s lawyer?”

“Allan Milligan,” Max confirmed. “I’ve met him a handful of times at the office.”

Nikki opened the folder and slid the photographs toward him. Max frowned and began to thumb through the pictures, turning pale when he reached the more explicit shots. He closed the folder.

“I think I need something stronger than tea now,” he admitted.

“You think Sarah used her brother to kill her parents, don’t you?” Nora asked.

His blue eyes looked at them with burning anger. “If I hadn’t before, I do now. I think I understand why you want that will. Just give me a moment to fetch it.” He left the two detectives in the garden and hurried inside. 

“She did it, didn’t she? Sarah Wentworth manipulated her brother into killing her mother and father.” Nikki shook her head. “At least one of Sarah’s parents finally realized she made a monster but too late to do anything about it.”

“Maybe it’s because she tried to stop the monster that she got murdered,” Nora murmured. “I have a feeling this will is going to give us motive.”

“You think Marjorie and Charles decided to cut the kids out for their own good?” Nikki guessed.

Nora smiled unexpectedly. “That would make us both right.”

“What?”

“Back at Marjorie’s… you said the motive was money and I said it was revenge. If the Wentworths cut their kids out of their wills… that means the motive was both.” Nora grinned at her partner.

“Aren’t we clever?” Nikki drawled.

Max returned and handed Nora the file. “I’m anal, Detectives,” he admitted. “I have every copy of Charlie’s wills that he ever gave me.”

“That’s not anal, Max, that’s awesome,” Nora told him as she got to her feet and flipped open the file. “When was the last one dated?”

“Four weeks ago,” Max admitted with a grimace.

Nora skimmed the document as Nikki leaned over her shoulder and read it with her. They both looked up at Max when they reached Charles Wentworth’s signature. “Thank you, Max. This is a big help.”

“She slept with Milligan and got him to draw up another will, didn’t she?” Max guessed. His already ruddy complexion turned redder. “For the love of all that is holy, Detectives, don’t let her get away with it.”

“We won’t,” Nora promised.


	7. Chapter 7

“Oh, Jesus Christ.”

Nikki couldn’t help but smirk; she could barely contain a snort of amusement as Nora almost spun around and ran back down the hall of the precinct toward the parking lot. “She’s a dress designer, Nora, not Satan.” Nikki waved at the waiting Stephanie with one hand, while grabbing Nora’s elbow with the other to keep her partner from escaping.

Stephanie smiled at the sight of the two of them, especially Nora who looked ready to run for the hills. “You could give a woman a complex, Detective,” she informed Nora blithely as they arrived at their desks. “You’re going to hurt my feelings one of these days… always trying to run away when you see me.”

Nora narrowed her eyes and stuck her tongue out at her childishly, earning a light laugh from the designer.

“All you have to do to make me go away is pose for my shoot in a few days, Nora,” Stephanie teased with a poke at the blonde woman’s mid-section. “I can assure you all the shooting you’ll be doing that night will be completely painless and there will be no need for any sessions with a shrink afterward.”

Nikki grinned as she settled into her chair.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Nora countered. “I think posing for a fashion magazine in a fancy dress might scar me for life. I’ll definitely need therapy.” She tossed her jacket on the back of her chair as Stephanie leaned against her desk. The designer was dressed in custom jeans and tall brown leather boots that the detective privately envied. Stephanie topped off the ensemble with a tasteful red cardigan. Nora motioned at the designer’s boots. “Why can’t I wear something like this?”

Stephanie crossed her arms and smiled. “That can be arranged.”

“Really?” Nora said hopefully.

“For a second photo shoot,” Stephanie answered glibly.

“Walked right into that one, sugar,” Nikki told her partner with amusement as she jotted a few notes into a file. 

Nora growled and plopped down in her chair. “Are you going to show up here every day until we do this damn shoot?”

“Not every day,” Stephanie answered readily. “I do have to make a living.”

“Ladies.” Dan smiled at his detectives and gave a polite dip of his head in Stephanie’s direction as he strolled up to their desks. “Any luck?”

“Loads and loads,” Nikki answered. “We were just swinging by to check in as requested. We’re planning on having the Wentworths’ lawyer for lunch.”

“Yum,” Stephanie said but it was clear her appetite was more for the captain than any attorney. She leaned back to get a view from the rear.

Both detectives had to stifle a laugh, but Dan had obviously missed the joke.

“Sounds tasty,” Dan replied. “You got something on the guy?”

“We’re about to find out,” Nora told him as she hung up her phone after checking her messages. “As soon as I get cleaned up. I’m still in yesterday’s clothes.” 

“Wrap it up,” he told them. “I want this one over and done.”

“You’re not the only one,” Nikki muttered with a quick glance at Nora who was already looking back at her knowingly.

“Catch me when you come back in.” Dan patted Nora on the shoulder and she waved a hand at him to go away, which he did, chuckling lightly at her antics.

“Who is that beautiful man?” Stephanie wanted to know.

“That’s the captain,” Nikki explained. She tilted her head and followed Stephanie’s line of sight as the other woman watched him walk away. “He is pretty coming or going.”

“You think he doesn’t know that?” Nora groused.

“Nora, honey?” Stephanie said sweetly.

Nora glanced up almost fearfully as the dress designer sidled up to her desk and put a hand on her shoulder. “What?”

“Get him to the photo shoot… and I’ll see to it you aren’t the only ones dressing up and getting their picture taken.” Stephanie winked before sauntering away.

Looking up at the now standing Nikki, Nora smirked. “She really does know what buttons to push.”

“She really does,” Nikki had to agree.

****

Thirty minutes later, Nikki entered the women’s locker room at the precinct, feeling the steam from the showers instantly bead on her skin. She took a breath of the warm, moist air, and carefully made her way back toward the lockers. She could hear a shower dripping and assumed Nora had finished cleaning up and was probably fully dressed by now. Her partner didn’t seem to take nearly as long to pull herself together as Nikki did.

Rounding the corner, Nikki stopped cold and stared at Nora’s bare back as her partner pulled a dark blue, figure-hugging sweater over her head. Transfixed by the ornate tattoo on Nora’s skin, Nikki leaned against the nearest locker and enjoyed the brief show while it lasted.

Nora grabbed the towel she’d draped over her locker and quickly dried her hair, aware on some distant level that she was no longer alone. She finished what she was doing and tossed the towel in the laundry basket before glancing over her shoulder to see Nikki watching her with a smirk. “How long have you been standing there?”

“Not long enough.” Nikki shoved off the wall and came closer, smiling a little as Nora pulled the plastic bag off her cast and threw it in the trash. Her fingers reached out and she let them trail over the fabric of Nora’s sweater, down the cast, and finally to the heat of Nora’s hand. “Bet you can’t wait to get that off.”

Nikki found green eyes watching her intently when she met Nora’s gaze again.

“I’m looking forward to all sorts of things,” Nora confessed, her voice hoarse. “You get a hold of the lawyer?”

Clearing her throat, Nikki had to look away in order to focus on the case. “Yeah. He sounds spooked. He’ll see us in forty five minutes.”

“Just enough time to make myself halfway presentable,” Nora teased faintly.

“You’d look good in a burlap sack,” Nikki replied easily.

Nora shook her head. “Nah. Burlap is so last year. And it would itch.”

Nikki chuckled and slowly met Nora’s gaze again. “I so want to kiss you right now,” she admitted in a soft voice.

Nora swallowed. “And I so want to let you… but someone could…”

“I know,” Nikki cut her off. She reached up and let her fingertips trail down Nora’s cheek anyway, her thumb coming to rest on Nora’s chin. Dipping her head, Nikki leaned in and pressed a gentle, almost chaste kiss to the corner of her partner’s mouth before withdrawing. “I’ll wait outside.”

“Nikki,” Nora called out, feeling torn about expressing her feelings in a place where they could so easily be discovered.

“It’s okay,” Nikki promised and smiled to back it up. “Come get me when you’re ready to go.”

Nora watched her partner walk away, feeling both guilt and a sliver of relief.

****

Allan Milligan’s office was in a restored firehouse near the French Quarter. Nora felt the building was far too beautiful to be home to a bunch of attorneys, but she figured they were probably the only tenets that could afford to transform the space into the brick and brass beauty it was. She paced near the receptionist’s desk, strolling back to glance up the fire pole. “This thing get used?” she asked.

The receptionist ignored her and kept typing.

Nora glanced at Nikki and her partner smirked.

“You could always shimmy up it,” Nikki suggested.

The typing faltered before resuming with a much louder clacking of keys.

“Could practice pole dancing,” Nora murmured, wrapping her left hand around the polished brass and spinning around it with a flourish. “I hear it’s great exercise.”

The receptionist stood up in a huff and stormed out.

Nikki chuckled. “Bet that gets us in to see the bastard faster.” She looked at the pole and Nora speculatively. “Although, if you want to give pole dancing a try, I’ll happily go lock the door.”

Nora smirked and walked away, sauntering closer to Nikki. They stood quietly and studied the portraits of the firm’s attorneys on the wall. Milligan was slightly left of center, a sweep of jet-black hair his most attractive feature. He had listless blue eyes and a hawk-like nose. Nora put him around fifty if the gray streaking through his temples was any indication. He didn’t strike her as someone who would interest Sarah Wentworth in any way. Obviously, it was what he could do for Sarah rather than his appearance that had drawn her to the man.

“He’ll see you now,” the sixty something receptionist announced as she returned and sat down at her desk. “Take the stairs to the third floor. Third door on your left.”

“Thanks,” Nora said as they moved past her desk. “You won’t mind if we use the pole on our way down, do you?” she asked, hooking her thumb at the object in question. Nikki grabbed Nora’s hand and yanked it down, dragging her partner along behind her.

The receptionist adjusted her glasses and promptly ignored the blonde detective.

Nora glanced at Nikki as they ascended the steps. “Was that a no?”

****

“Detectives,” Milligan greeted them in a gray suit that was probably as expensive as their paychecks combined. He stood up from behind his enormous wood desk and motioned the two women into large leather chairs on the other side of it. “I assume you have some questions about the Wentworths’ wills,” he said as they sat. “I trust you got the copies I sent over.”

Nikki leaned back, hearing the red leather squeak as she did so. “We did,” she replied.

“Excellent.” 

Milligan sat down without bothering to get their names. If the thin film of perspiration on his brow and upper lip were anything to go by, Nora guessed Sarah had already filled her lover in on the both of them. “Actually,” Nora began as Nikki handed her a file folder, “we wanted to talk to you about the wills the Wentworths had drawn up four weeks ago.”

Nikki watched in satisfaction as the lawyer paled under his healthy tan. “You remember those wills, right, Mr. Milligan?”

“The current wills are the only ones that matter. Those were the last will and testaments of the deceased,” he slowly answered.

“Unless they were deceased when they wrote them,” Nora pointed out simply.

“What are you implying?” Milligan’s voice wavered.

“I’m not implying anything,” Nora answered easily. “I’m just saying.” She smiled.

“You have to admit it’s strange,” Nikki chimed in, drawing the lawyer’s eyes onto her. “The Wentworths never left everything to their children in the other wills they had drawn up. Then four weeks ago… about the time David fell back into his drug habit… they cut the kids out completely.”

“Then lo and behold, the Wentworths turn up dead and, suddenly, there are new wills that leave everything to the kids. Wonder what happened in those four weeks to change their minds so dramatically?” Nora crossed her legs and leaned casually back in her chair.

“I wouldn’t presume to guess,” Milligan murmured, wiping his upper lip with the back of his forefinger. “Marjorie and Charles had their whims. I simply put them on paper.” He straightened a little and ran a hand down his silk blue tie. “May I inquire where you got a copy of these previous wills?”

“Charles’ business partner. He’s wonderfully anal that way,” Nora explained with a fond quirk of her lips for Max. “Now we have all those wills.”

“I see. They’re just paper now, Detective. The current wills are the ones that will be executed.”

“Maybe,” Nikki allowed. “Unless we contest them.” She slipped out the second folder she’d been carrying and retrieved one of the more telling photographs from inside before laying it on Milligan’s desk and flicking it toward him. “Now I’m not a lawyer, but that looks a bit suspect.”

Allan Milligan swallowed hard when he saw the photograph. His hand shook as he lifted it. “Is nothing sacred to the NOPD?”

“You’re a fine one to talk, pal,” Nora drawled. “You know the law, Mr. Milligan. If we find out that Charles’ and Marjorie’s wills were changed after their deaths, you will go to prison not only for forgery but as an accessory to murder as well.”

“Murder?” Milligan choked. “I didn’t… I had nothing to do with…”

“Murder,” Nikki agreed. “We think Sarah Wentworth used her brother to kill her parents. Then she used you to mock up new wills leaving everything to her and her brother and making Sarah the executor of David’s inheritance. Is he going to have to turn up dead too before you’ll connect the dots?”

Milligan looked from one woman to the other. “Sarah wouldn’t kill her parents,” he said unconvincingly.

“You believe him?” Nora asked her partner.

“Nope,” Nikki answered cheekily.

Milligan ran a nervous hand through his hair. 

“Tell us why the kids were initially cut out of the wills,” Nora demanded.

“I’m not at liberty to…”

“Your clients are dead, Mr. Milligan, and we’re looking at you for multiple crimes. I would stop hedging my bets.” Nikki leaned across the desk and collected the photograph.

“Mr. Milligan?” Nora asked, seeing that they were close to pushing him over the edge. “You have the right to remain silent…”

“Now hold on…” Milligan stood swiftly and Nikki and Nora followed suit.

“You have the right to an attorney,” Nora continued with a smirk. “If you cannot afford one, one will be appointed to you by the court, if you so desire. Do you understand these rights as I have read them to you?”

“You’re arresting me?” His voice came out high and squeaky.

“I’m prepared to book you for murder, unless you give me something to send us looking in another direction.” Nora’s voice dropped an octave and her green eyes fixed on the lawyer with disdain.

Milligan raked both hands through his hair this time. “Fine. But I want a deal.”

“You give us a name and we’ll see that the accessory to murder charges are left off the table,” Nikki promised him, knowing that her words meant nothing if the DA decided to bring the dirty attorney down.

He reluctantly nodded. “Sarah came to me days after Charles and Marjorie changed their wills. They must have told her and David that they were being cut out. I assumed that’s what pushed David back into drugs. He seemed to be doing so well before then.”

“Did Sarah tell you she meant to harm her family?” Nikki demanded.

“No. Hell no.” Milligan shook his head. “She was upset. She wanted someone to listen to her. We had several dinners and talked things over about her family.”

“And then you slept with her,” Nora bluntly advanced the story.

Milligan colored but continued. “Yes. She’s a beautiful woman and I’m a single man. There’s no harm in consensual sex between adults.”

“None whatsoever,” Nora agreed. “Unless she got you thinking with one head instead of the other.”

“Detective,” Milligan spat. “There is no need to be crude.”

“Crude?” Nora leaned forward and put her hands on the edge of Milligan’s desk. “Two people are dead. You tell me whether you changed those wills before or after their deaths, Mr. Milligan.”

He hesitated. “After,” he finally admitted. “I didn’t want to see Sarah and David suffer over a hasty decision that Marjorie and Charles would have reversed if given the chance. They were trying to teach their children a lesson. They never meant to leave them out of the wills indefinitely.”

Nikki rolled her eyes.

“Is Sarah still seeing you?” Nora asked. “Or did she drop your ass the minute she had her hands on the wills?”

“She wouldn’t kill them,” Milligan fired back.

“You know that for sure?” Nikki asked. “She started working you days after her parents cut her out of their wills. Then both parents die and she has a clear path back to her millions and only a gullible attorney in her way.”

“She wouldn’t kill them,” he reiterated. “Sarah would never get her hands dirty like that,” he snarled. Milligan slumped back at his desk and snorted at himself. “She promised me a cut of the money. Enough so I could retire. They were both dead. I didn’t see the harm.”

“That money was the motive for their murders,” Nora informed him. “You made killing them pay off for her.”

Milligan looked up at them both. “Even with my confession, it’s still my word against hers.” He sounded tired and defeated. “You’re going to have a devil of a time bringing her to justice.”

“We’ll see about that,” Nikki replied. “Now turn around and put your hands behind your back.” She slipped her cuffs off her hip and approached him.

“I guess we can’t take the pole down now, can we?” Nora asked as she watched Nikki snap the cuffs in place. She was only faintly joking.

****

“Ladies, your warrant for Sarah Wentworth,” Dan informed them as he handed the folded documents to Nikki just as she started to sit down at her desk.

“That was fast,” Nora announced as she slipped back into the jacket she’d just taken off.

“DNA came back, too,” Dan added. “The blood under the kid’s nails was his mother’s.”

“Damn.” Nikki slumped back in her chair. “I was really hoping that wouldn’t be the case.”

“I know,” Dan replied with a hint of sympathy. “But David Wentworth killed his mother. Pick him up before you search the sister’s house.”

“He needs treatment,” Nora started.

“Which he’ll have to get in prison,” Dan answered easily as he walked away. “Get a move on, ladies. I’d like to give the press a little good news this evening.”

Nora rubbed her aching forehead. “Sometimes this job sucks.” She watched as Nikki stood and came around her desk. “Let’s get this over with. Maybe by tonight we can lay this case to bed.”

“Let’s hope,” Nikki replied, her voice faint. “I know I’ll sleep happily when Sarah Wentworth is in a cage.” She had other reasons for wanting the case over and done, but they were far too selfish to say aloud under the circumstances.

“You think she knows Milligan has been arrested?” Nora asked as they headed toward the late afternoon sun beyond the precinct doors.

“I think it will be interesting to find out.”


	8. Chapter 8

Nora sat in the car studying her closely cropped nails. Outside her partially lowered window, crickets were beginning their nightly concert in fits and starts, warming up as the day began to cool off and darkness edged out the remaining orange rays of the setting sun. She sighed and put her head back against the headrest, her green eyes focused past the windshield on an old metal door. Nikki was beyond it, making sure David Wentworth was being processed and admitted to the prison infirmary. Nora felt like a coward sitting out in the car, but David’s anguished cries as she’d slapped the cuffs on him had rattled her. She thought she’d hidden her emotions well during the car ride to the prison, but when they had arrived, Nikki had laid a hand on her knee and squeezed knowingly.

“I’ve got this,” her partner had promised before disappearing inside with David and a guard.

Blowing out another sigh that stirred her blonde bangs, Nora glanced at her watch. They would have to grab a bite to eat on the run. Already too much time had elapsed since Milligan’s arrest. There was no way Sarah Wentworth wasn’t aware her bed buddy and accomplice was behind bars. That gave her time to cover her tracks or even leave some if she decided to bolt.

In her guts, though, Nora knew Sarah wouldn’t go anywhere. This was all a game to the woman and she was playing to win. The damn bitch even seemed to enjoy it.

The car door opened and Nora turned her head as Nikki slid inside and settled into the leather seat.

“How’d it go?” Nora asked.

Warm brown eyes lifted and met Nora’s gaze with gentle understanding. “Don’t ask.”

“Damn. That bad, huh?” Nora shook her head and started the car.

“He doesn’t understand what’s happening to him. He kept calling out for his mother.” Nikki swallowed around the lump in her throat. She knew she would hear David’s cries in her dreams tonight, but it was worth it not to have put Nora through any more anguish with him.

“He killed them. Why do I feel like a shit for arresting him?” Nora jumped a little when the nails on Nikki’s left hand scraped lightly under her hair and across the back of her neck as her partner offered wordless comfort.

“Because it’s the drugs in him that are evil, not the boy they’ve destroyed,” Nikki finally said with an understanding borne of year in the narcotics division.

Nora absorbed that thought and took a measure of solace from it. She sighed and changed the subject. “I need food or I won’t have the strength to arrest David’s bitch of a sister,” she confessed, enjoying the licks of electricity that seemed to race down her neck and back as Nikki continued to scratch her skin.

Nikki leaned back against the headrest and studied her partner, smiling just a little as Nora shifted a fraction to get her partner’s fingers exactly where she wanted them. “Drive-thru it is then,” she said agreeably.

“Mmm.” Nora’s eyes slipped closed as she took a few more seconds to enjoy Nikki’s touch.

“You know…” Nikki murmured, her voice dropping an octave, “the sooner this case is over; the sooner I can scratch more than your neck.”

Nora’s eyes popped open and she accidentally honked the horn. Two guards glanced at her as they walked by on their way inside and she waved at them sheepishly. “You gotta stop coming on to me in the car.”

Nikki chuckled and reluctantly removed her hand from the warmth of Nora’s skin. “Let’s get moving. I want this woman arrested in the worst possible way. It might not happen tonight, but it’s a step in the right direction.”

“Too bad David is still too screwed up in the head to tell us anything about the murders,” Nora said as she put the El Camino in reverse and maneuvered them out of the parking lot. She rolled up her window, silencing the crickets as she eased the car onto the street.

“Another day or two and he’ll sing like a bird, hopefully.”

“You think Sarah was trying to kill him the other night?” Nora asked abruptly.

“I think she was trying to get David to kill himself.” Nikki put her elbow against the door and propped her head up with her fist. “I wonder if we checked his phone records, we’d have evidence that he’d received a call from his sister that day he tried to take a swan dive off his balcony.”

“How did he even get the drugs in the first place?”

“You think Sarah gave them to him?” Nikki asked, considering the possibility. “The bottles had his name on them.”

“Maybe Sarah was banging a pharmacist as well as an attorney. Wouldn’t put it past her,” Nora huffed.

Nikki pretended to shudder. “I prefer to think she paid one, thanks.”

Nora smirked a little and shot Nikki a quick glance before focusing once more on the road. She could see the familiar glow of fast food signs up ahead and felt her stomach growl enthusiastically. “We’ll need to check that one way or the other. We need to button this case up tight or she’ll walk.”

“Money can’t buy you happiness, but it can get you some damn good lawyers,” Nikki agreed. She pointed at a restaurant and Nora nodded. “I need a chocolate shake, damn it. Or maybe a mocha one. It’s been a long day.”

“As if I needed another reason to like you,” Nora teased, feeling some of her earlier depression lifting. Nikki seemed to have that effect on her, she mused, and the thought made her feel a little giddy. She cast a quick look at Nikki as her partner turned her attention out the window. What would happen between them when the case was over was anyone’s guess, but she sure as hell couldn’t wait to find out.

****

“Is her majesty home?” Nora asked the maid thirty minutes after their fast food stop. She reminded the woman of her status by flashing her badge in her face. “We have a warrant.”

The door opened further and the maid stumbled back into the foyer as Sarah Wentworth appeared, her hand on the doorknob. “A warrant?” she said with amusement. “My, my.” She focused on the maid. “Elaine, you may go. Can’t have you in the detectives’ way, now can we?”

Elaine looked sheepishly at Nikki and Nora before collecting a light jacket from the hall closet. She timidly slipped past them, aware of Nikki’s appraising eyes on her back as she began her walk home.

“So hard to find good help these days, isn’t it?” Sarah asked Nikki.

Nikki returned her gaze to their suspect and smiled tightly. “I wouldn’t know.” She shouldered the door the rest of the way open, taking a sliver of satisfaction in making Sarah stumble just as the other woman had done to the maid. “Your warrant,” she announced before handing the paperwork to Sarah.

“Why don’t you find a frame for that while we look around,” Nora told her as she sauntered in after Nikki, doing her best not to gloat at her partner’s antics.

Sarah smiled thinly. “I just might do that, Detective.” She watched them as they moved into the living room and began snooping. “So, where is the whole team? Won’t my home be invaded by CSIs?”

“You watch too much television,” Nora answered easily. “But if we decide it’s necessary, we can have that arranged.”

Sarah merely closed her door and crossed her arms.

Nikki cursed inwardly at how relaxed the other woman appeared. Obviously, Wentworth wasn’t worried about them finding anything incriminating or else she was a hell of an actress. “Suppose you heard about your lawyer.”

“I suppose I did,” Sarah answered. “Although he wasn’t my lawyer. He worked for my parents.”

“He called you?” Nora asked.

“His attorney did,” Sarah said sweetly. “Seems you’re under the impression I slept with him to get him to change mommy and daddy’s wills. How devious of me.”

Nora stopped in front of Wentworth. “Did you?”

Sarah stared at Nora for a moment, assessing. “What makes you think I did?”

Nora grinned then. “Good answer,” she allowed. “You didn’t get anything out of Milligan’s attorney, so you want to know what we have on you.”

“There was nothing to get out of Milligan’s attorney,” Sarah sniffed, her features tightening a little. “I’ve done nothing wrong.”

“We know you slept with him,” Nikki entered the conversation. She had her latex gloves on as she searched through desk drawers.

“Is that what he told you?” Sarah asked blithely.

“No. That’s what the photographs that a private detective took of you two together told us.” Nora didn’t wait for an answer. She took the flinch on Sarah’s face as a victory and moved away, slipping on her own gloves as she zeroed in on Sarah’s purse.

“Someone photographed me?” Sarah asked after a moment.

“Got a whole folder full of glossies,” Nikki admitted as she shut a drawer and opened another.

“You see that, Nik?” Nora asked her partner with a dip of her head at Wentworth. “You see those wheels just spinning?”

“Well I hope you enjoyed the show, Detectives,” Sarah finally snipped. “But sex between consenting adults is not a crime.”

“By the way,” Nora said as she leafed through Sarah’s wallet, noting a receipt to a pharmacy, which she slipped in an evidence bag as Sarah watched and frowned. “We arrested your brother on murder charges.”

Sarah blinked. “I see. You think David killed my mother and Charles.”

“He didn’t orchestrate it,” Nora replied. “He doesn’t have the mental capacity. But someone got him high and suggestible enough to carry it through.”

“You can’t prove that,” Sarah said.

“We’ll see,” was Nora’s response. “Don’t express too much concern for him or anything,” she added, anger creeping into her tone. “Wouldn’t want us to think you have a nice bone in that rich body.”

Sarah snarled. “I’m going to have a drink. Feel free to let yourselves out when you’re done.” She stalked away, stomping into the kitchen and slamming doors.

Nora looked at Nikki who raised an eyebrow in mute reply.

“Was it something I said?” Nora asked sweetly.

****

Nikki and Nora spent three hours in Sarah Wentworth’s brownstone just because they could, and because they knew it would piss the owner off. By the time Wentworth slammed the door behind them as they descended the steps, they had little to show for their trouble, save for their satisfaction of irritating Sarah to no end. They slipped inside the El Camino and Nora cranked the engine, but rather than pulling away from the curb, she sat and stared up at the brownstone.

“What?” Nikki asked.

“We got nothing. No way will the DA’s office go after her. Everything is circumstantial.”

Nikki sighed and rolled her neck, feeling the bones grind unhappily. “Maybe her financials will tell us something.”

“Maybe.” Nora drummed her fingers on the steering wheel for a moment before turning her attention on her partner. “Want me to take you home?”

A sly, devious smile spread across Nikki’s lips before she cast a sideways look at Nora.

Nora grimaced. “That so did not come out the way I meant it to.”

Nikki chuckled. “Yes to any way you meant it, sugar.”

Nora shook her head and pulled away from the curb. “There has got to be a way to wrap Sarah Wentworth up in all this,” she said as she returned to their safer, original topic.

“David is our best bet, but any attorney worth their salt will point out that he’s an addict and that he killed his family.” Nikki slumped back in her seat and rested her head on her fist. “Besides, sending Sarah to jail doesn’t really get her where it hurts.”

“You think she’d like it in there?” Nora asked in bemusement.

“Well no,” Nikki drawled with humor. “Sarah’s about status, though. Appearances. We’d have more success sticking it to the bitch if we ruined her reputation. Did you see the way she flinched when you mentioned the photographs? That’s the first and only thing that’s gotten a real reaction out of her.”

Nora considered that. “Hmm. A plan B, maybe.”

“What?”

“If we don’t put her away, we’ll use your connections to assassinate her character.”

Nikki laughed a little, a slight smile gracing her lips in the warm tones of the dashboard light. “As fun as that would be, the upper class is pretty used to scandal. It would take a lot.”

“Not sure how many people would want to invite a murderer to their garden party,” Nora groused. “But then again, who knows with some of these crazy rich people.”

Nikki smiled and looked at Nora fondly. “We’ll think of something,” she said, her voice softening as she studied her partner in the passing glow of streetlights.

They had to detour by the precinct to admit their meager findings into evidence. They did so quickly and efficiently, barely saying a word to one another as fatigue began to settle in. Dan nearly caught them on their way out, but both managed to dodge him and get back to the El Camino without any additional delays. A short time later, they arrived at Nikki’s new condo. They both stepped out of the car, Nora feeling the need to walk her partner to the front door.

“You want to come in?” Nikki asked, hoping her voice sounded more casual than she felt.

Nora studied the welcome mat under her feet before taking a deep breath and meeting Nikki’s brown eyes. The porch lamp was on, casting them in a puddle of warm, golden light. “Been a hell of a day,” she said softly, feeling all the events catching up with her. “I should probably…” Her voice faltered as Nikki reached up and grabbed an edge of her leather jacket, tugging Nora just a little closer.

“Come in,” Nikki pleaded, her voice low and beckoning.

“Nikki…” Nora swallowed as her body began to warm in a dangerous way.

“Please. Just for a few minutes.”

Nora knew it was pointless to argue when Nikki looked at her like that. She’d barely made an imperceptible nod before Nikki turned and shouldered open her door, clasping Nora’s hand and dragging her inside. No sooner had the door closed than Nora had her back against it, Nikki’s mouth claiming her own. Nora inhaled sharply in surprise as Nikki pressed closer, slowly melding their bodies together in the darkness of the foyer.

The kiss had heat but it was the emotion behind it that made Nora feel weak in the knees. So sweet it ached, the intimate moment soothed over the hurts and stresses of the last few days, washing Nora clean of everything but what she was feeling for her partner. Her hands tangled in Nikki’s dark hair as the kiss slowed and deepened.

Finally breaking apart to breathe, Nikki nuzzled the curve of Nora’s throat, breathing in her welcome scent as her partner’s touch went from her hair to her back, strong hands pulling her closer. “I’m sorry,” Nikki murmured. “I just had to kiss you or I was going to go crazy,” she confessed.

“Not complaining,” Nora murmured, soaking up Nikki’s heat and curves with satisfaction. She was tired enough to fall asleep standing up, but Nora wasn’t ready to turn loose of her partner just yet. “I think I needed that.” Nikki’s warm breath blew across her throat as the other woman laughed.

“Yeah,” Nikki answered softly before lifting her head and studying Nora’s green eyes at close range. Neither could resist the pull of the other and soon their mouths met again and curious tongues began to explore. Nikki knew she’d never felt anything this strong in her life, and the intensity and her wonder of it made her stomach quiver. “What are you doing to me?” she whispered between kisses.

Nora groaned at the question, feeling her barely controlled hormones kick into hyper-drive. “I should go…” she managed in a breathless voice.

“Stay,” Nikki pleaded. “We don’t have to…” She swallowed before laying a gentle kiss on the curve of Nora’s throat.

Nora shivered. “We will if you keep doing that,” she forced out in a hoarse voice as Nikki kissed higher before biting down lightly on Nora’s ear. Her hands flexed on partner’s hips. “Nikki.”

“Jesus I like hearing you say my name in that voice.” Nikki kissed her partner again with more hunger, pressing her up against the door as her thigh slipped between Nora’s and ground down.

“Christ,” Nora grunted as her head slammed back into the wood. “Nikki…”

A bark broke the moment just when Nora thought she was going to lose her sanity and the tattered remains of her willpower.

Claws clacked on the wood floor as Nestor trotted closer, happy to see his human companion. The blonde mutt wagged his tail enthusiastically and Nikki found it impossible to be upset with him over the interruption. She looked up into Nora’s darkened but bemused eyes. “Saved by the bark, huh?” she asked ruefully.

Nora let out the breath she’d been holding as Nikki slowly moved away.

“I’m sorry,” Nikki murmured. “I didn’t plan on… I just needed to…” She rubbed under her exhausted eyes with her fingers. “Shit.” She shook her head at herself. “You make me lose my mind.”

“Good. Glad I’m not the only one,” Nora answered with a weak grin. Nestor came closer and sniffed her shoes before sneezing on them. Nora laughed as some of the tension ebbed. “Happy to see you too, boy.” She caught her bottom lip between her teeth as she glanced back up at her partner. “I should go.”

It was the last thing Nikki wanted Nora to do but she accepted it was probably for the best. Reluctantly, she nodded. “Drive safe, okay?”

Nora reached out and cupped her partner’s cheek before letting her hand slip behind Nikki’s head and urging her closer. She kissed her delicately before drawing the taller woman into a hug.

They stayed that way for several minutes, simply holding each other.

“This is nice,” Nikki murmured, savoring the scent of leather and Nora’s skin. Her hands wandered over Nora’s strong back, taking comfort in the embrace. She wanted so much more from Nora, but this moment felt pretty damn good and she didn’t want to let it go.

“You sound surprised,” Nora teased as she turned her head to murmur the words against Nikki’s ear. She felt her partner shiver and Nora grinned in satisfaction.

Nikki smiled as she finally stepped out of the embrace. “Maybe a little.”

“Good night, Nikki,” Nora said after another long moment of simply looking at her partner.

“Good night,” Nikki breathed into the empty hallway once Nora had left and closed the door behind her. She looked down at Nestor whose tail began to wag once more. “The bed is going to feel very cold and lonely tonight, boy.”

He sneezed again and went trotting off in the direction of the back yard. Nikki went to the door and looked out the window, watching as her partner glanced back at her before slipping into the car. Nora gave her a half-wave and Nikki returned it before watching Nora drive away into the night. She sighed and put her head against the cool glass of the windowpane, her breath fogging the surface as she closed her eyes.


	9. Chapter 9

Reba threaded herself between bare legs, her pale fur tickling Nora’s calves as the detective finished brushing her teeth and slipped her toothbrush back in its holder. Naked, Nora bent at the waist and patted Reba’s head, her cat purring contentedly in response.

“Missed you, too, girl,” she drawled. “Lucky Ms. Addleson looks after you, huh?” As much as she’d been absent lately, Nora made a mental note to send her neighbor some flowers or something to say thanks for taking such good care of Reba.

Carefully stepping over the happy cat, Nora reached out and turned the faucet off on her bath. She tested the temperature before flicking the beads of water off her hand at the cat, laughing a little as Reba shook her head and sent the water flying right back at her.

The heat that welcomed Nora as she submerged into hot water and cool bubbles was blissfully perfect. It wasn’t the heat she would have liked to have wrapped herself up in tonight, but it was the safest and most prudent choice. As much as she wanted Nikki, as curious as she was to experience all the things Nikki claimed she was missing… Nora was also scared to death of the unknown. She liked being in control of her life, her cases… her emotions. Nikki had taken hold of the latter and twisted and turned them so hard Nora barely knew which way was up.

She sighed and propped her right arm on the lip of the tub, careful to keep it and her cast away from the water. Her head eased back until she could rest her neck on the water-warmed porcelain. Staring at the ceiling as Reba purred nearby, Nora willed her mind to empty of everything but the case, but her brain stubbornly refused to clear itself of Nikki Beaumont and the chaotic sensations and thoughts Nora’s partner evoked.

Nora closed her eyes and finally gave in, letting the memories drift over her like the layer of lavender scented bubbles she lay beneath. The way Nikki had felt when she’d pushed Nora up against the door… the heat of her body, the solidness of her muscles… and when her partner had pulled that stunt with her thigh…

Nora’s legs clenched together in the large bath and she bit her lip in an effort not to moan at the memory. It wasn’t that she was clueless about what two women could do to each other in bed. She was a reasonably intelligent human being, and her brain had certainly dreamed up some rather vivid images on more than one occasion, but feeling her body react so swiftly and so hard to Nikki’s touch had been a little overwhelming. Nora knew she’d never reacted like that to a man. Of course, a man would never have done what Nikki had with that firm thigh…

She sighed and ran a warm, wet hand down her face. If something didn’t happen between her and Nikki soon they were going to combust. Nora didn’t want to think about what would happen after they fell into bed together. There were so many possibilities and her mind found it hard to dwell on the positive ones when there were so many ways things could end badly. But she knew she couldn’t walk away. Not now. No matter what regrets she might have later, she had to see this thing with Nikki through.

And as scared as she was by that thought, Nora also knew she wanted to experience everything Nikki could teach her. The thought of her partner’s hands on her… no clothes between them…

A moan slipped out this time and Nora shivered, the hot water lapping against her suddenly sensitive skin. Her left hand eased up one trembling thigh as she thought of Nikki’s knowing brown eyes. The urge to take the edge off was making it damn hard to breathe. Nora could almost imagine it was Nikki’s hand easing higher, drifting across her skin. She could almost see the satisfied smirk Nikki would wear as she slipped those long fingers inside her.

“Okay,” Nora breathed unsteadily and sat up in the bath so fast she startled Reba who fled the bathroom, bunching up a throw rug in her haste to escape. Water sloshed over the lip of the tub and Nora swore, narrowly avoiding getting her cast wet and ruining it again. “Bath is not a good idea right now,” she admitted out loud. Climbing out of the tub, she grabbed a towel and made quick work of drying herself off, refusing to think about how nice the fabric felt as it brushed over her heated skin. Nikki had her so damn keyed up that everything that touched her felt like a caress.

She slipped back into her clothes and jammed her feet into her favorite pair of leather boots before grabbing her jacket. Nora gave Reba a swift kiss on the head as she collected her keys, gun, and wallet and headed back out into the night.

If she couldn’t sleep and she couldn’t have sex with her partner… she might as well work.

****

“What are you doing?”

Nora’s head swiveled around as she heard Dan’s voice closing in to her right. “Hello to you, too,” she drawled as she signed her name into the evidence log. She’d requested the few items she and Nikki had taken from Sarah’s home, ready to give them a good once over, especially the prescription she’d found in Sarah’s purse.

“It’s nearly 11:30,” Dan informed her as he slipped his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket. “You should be at home.”

“Pot, this is kettle…” Nora left the rest of the saying dangling. She squinted a little against the unforgiving fluorescent lights. “If it solves the case faster, why do you care?”

“Because I need my detectives to take care of themselves so they can take care of the bad guys.”

“Thanks, Eve,” Nora said absently to the evidence clerk before hefting the mostly empty box and heading back upstairs to her desk. Dan followed along beside her. “I can’t sleep,” Nora admitted. “Figure I might as well be productive.”

“And where is Nikki?” Dan asked.

“What am I, her keeper?” Nora answered defensively.

“Hopefully, she’s being smarter than you are and she’s got her pretty little head on a pillow somewhere,” Dan growled as he held the door for his former partner and motioned Nora to walk through first.

“Who has a pretty little head on a pillow somewhere?” Nikki’s voice drifted over them both and they turned to see her standing at the entrance to the bullpen a few feet away.

Nora snorted when she saw her, feeling both giddy and resigned at Nikki’s presence.

Dan just shook his head. “You’re both crazy.” He moved past Nikki and started to head out into the night. “I better not hear that you two didn’t go home tonight,” he called after them. Without another word, he left, letting the door swing shut behind him.

Nikki turned her gaze from the now closed door onto Nora. “Fancy seeing you here.”

Nora sighed and shook her head. She shifted the evidence box to her other hip and closed the remaining distance to her desk, feeling Nikki trailing behind. Nora had a sudden suspicion and she looked over her shoulder at her partner.

“Were you just checking out my ass?”

Nikki’s head bobbed up, the caught expression on her features only lasting for a split second. “What?”

Nora rolled her eyes and dropped the box onto her desk. She tossed the lid off and rifled inside, pulling out the evidence bag that contained Sarah’s prescription. Nikki sidled up beside her and leaned on the desk.

“How did you know I was staring at your ass?” Nikki asked, managing to sound both intrigued and a little embarrassed.

“I could feel you,” Nora replied distractedly. She handed the prescription to Nikki. “You worked narcotics. Know what that is?”

“Alprazolam?” Nikki frowned. “Sarah is taking this?”

“It was in her wallet,” Nora replied. “Got her name on it.”

“It wasn’t prescribed by the same doctor that gave David all his meds,” Nikki murmured, having spied the name of a different physician stamped on David’s bottles.

“You know the drug?” Nora prompted again as she dropped down into her chair and looked up the length of Nikki’s body. Her partner was wearing her long black duster, and the smell of well-kept leather tickled Nora’s nose.

“Anxiety medication.” Nikki handed the evidence bag back to her partner. “You probably know it better as Xanax.”

“Ah.” Nora nodded in recognition. “Sarah doesn’t strike me as the sort to need anxiety medication.”

“She might take it to help her sleep. Some people do.” Nikki eased her hip onto the corner of Nora’s desk. “Some people use it to blunt the crash of coming down from a cocaine high,” she added in a thoughtful tone.

“What’s David’s drug of choice?” Nora asked as she sat up in her chair and started rifling through the folders on her desk.

“Coke,” Nikki replied readily. “Some heroin thrown in for variety.”

“You think Sarah would take drugs with her brother?”

“Certainly not as often as David hits the stuff. I imagine Sarah’s vice is cigarettes.” Nikki studied her partner as Nora sifted through all the facts in her head. “What are you doing here?” she finally asked softly.

Green eyes shifted off the small stack of files and back onto Nikki. Nora shrugged. “Couldn’t sleep,” she confessed.

“After the way we left things… neither could I,” Nikki said truthfully.

They stared at each other for a moment.

“This is getting really hard,” Nora finally murmured.

“Keeping my hands off you? Hell yeah it is, darlin’.”

Nora chuckled as she rubbed at her tired eyes. “Okay,” she blew out on a breath, forcing her thoughts back onto the case. “We didn’t find drugs at the scene.”

“Sarah would never keep them at her home,” Nikki added.

“Agreed. There has to be a place, though… if she’s using…”

“I think she would occasionally. She’s a thrill seeker but has way more control than her brother.”

“Yeah,” Nora sighed. “Maybe that’s how she got David back on the drugs. Got him to do one more line for old time’s sake.”

“I really want to slap that woman,” Nikki declared.

“Get in line.” Nora drummed her fingers on the desk, thinking. “Darius never said anything about her using drugs.”

“Darius knows a lot,” Nikki agreed, “but he doesn’t know everything.”

“Call him?” Nora suggested. “Have him use his street contacts to see if Sarah ever scores.”

“Maybe Sarah gets her drugs from someone else.”

“Like the lawyer?” Nora guessed.

“Like the lawyer,” Nikki agreed. “Keeps her hands clean and he won’t cop to using… he doesn’t need more charges right now.” She sighed. “We could have arrested her for the whole deal with her parents’ wills,” Nikki added. “Milligan fingered her.”

“No pun intended?” Nora asked with a smirk.

“Ew.” Nikki stood up and screwed her face into a grimace. “Thanks for that mental image.”

Nora chuckled. “We couldn’t have made it stick. Sarah’s lawyers would have had her out of here faster than you can say trust fund. At least we’ve slowed down her getting her hands on all that money. It’s a start. And it’s gotta be pissing her off.”

“That’s some solace I guess.” Nikki bit her lip and considered the current state of their case. “Maybe we should talk to the maid.”

“Wentworth’s maid?” Nora asked.

“Have we met any others?” Nikki retorted playfully.

Nora scowled and tossed the prescription back in the evidence box. “What do you think she would tell us?”

“Sarah wouldn’t give that woman a second thought unless it was to demean her in some way. She probably barely realizes when the maid is actually there.”

“You think she might have seen something? Heard something?” Nora got to her feet.

“I’d bet on it.” Nikki stepped back as Nora stood, giving her a little breathing room to slip into her jacket.

“Why hasn’t the maid come to us?” Nora asked.

“If you thought your boss had killed her mother and father just to get her hands on their money, would you?”

“Good point.”

****

Nikki flipped her phone closed as she stepped out of the El Camino. It was a few minutes past midnight on the street of row houses where she now found herself. The homes around her were kept up, but they were a far cry from the brownstones lining Sarah Wentworth’s neighborhood. Or her own, for that matter.

“Well?” Nora asked as she waited for Nikki to join her on the other side of the car.

“Darius is looking into it. I think I’m in trouble with him, though.”

“Oh?”

Nikki winced. “I believe I interrupted his ‘quality time’ with his current girlfriend.”

“Ouch,” Nora drawled.

“Yeah.” Nikki slid the phone into her pocket. “You know he didn’t have to answer the phone.”

“I wouldn’t have,” Nora murmured only to realize what she’d just implied.

“Good to know,” Nikki practically purred. “I’d throw mine out the window.”

Nora smiled and covered the shiver the thought gave her by giving Nikki a nudge with her left hand toward the steps. “I feel like an ass for waking this poor woman.”

The door opened before they’d even made it to the front porch. Elaine Alvarez appeared in silhouette, her small frame wrapped in a tattered, light blue robe.

“I knew you would come,” she greeted them, her English heavily accented but clear. “Please.” She motioned them inside.

“We’re sorry to bother you so late…” Nikki began as she stepped inside. The modest residence smelled of Murphy’s Oil and empanadas. It was a strangely comforting and welcome combination.

“No bother. Could not sleep.” Elaine closed the door behind them, missing the look that passed between the detectives that had called upon her at such a late hour.

“You know why we’re here,” Nora said as Elaine moved past them toward a living room full of mismatched furniture. It was still tastefully done, and Nora had a moment to be impressed with how Elaine Alvarez managed to do so much with what little she had.

“Ms. Wentworth.” Elaine settled on her couch and waited for the two detectives to sit in chairs on either side of it. She threaded her fingers in her lap. “You think she killed her family, yes?”

“Do you?” Nikki asked pointedly.

Elaine looked down at her hands. “I don’t know. But she has not cried for them. What child does not cry for her parents when they are taken from you?” She glanced up at Nora then Nikki, her expression questioning.

“One that wouldn’t miss them a bit,” Nora murmured, remembering the depression she’d fallen into after her own father’s death. She met Nikki’s gaze and saw kindred pain there, reminding Nora of how her partner had lost her mother. “Mrs. Alvarez…”

“Elaine, please.”

“Elaine,” Nora corrected with a smile. “Did you ever witness any interaction between Sarah Wentworth and her parents?”

“They rarely came by. The family is not close. I believe I only met Ms. Wentworth’s mother three times. Her father only once.”

“What were they like together?” Nikki wanted to know.

“Cold. Like strangers. Except the last time Marjorie Wentworth was there. They fought.” Elaine’s hands twisted nervously in her lap. “Ms. Wentworth’s mother… she say how she’s realized she failed as a mother… that she raised a sociopath for a daughter…”

“And what did Sarah do?” Nora asked.

“She laughed. Never forget it. She laughed… at least until her mother told her she was being taken out of the will.”

“And how did Sarah take that news?” Nikki leaned in closer.

“She slapped her mother. I had to call Marjorie Wentworth’s driver to come in a separate them.” Elaine looked up into Nikki’s eyes. “I thought she was going to kill her.”

“Did Sarah ever say anything to you about the incident?” Nikki put her elbows on her knees and let her hands dangle between her legs.

Elaine smiled bitterly. “I’m the help, Detective Beaumont. Most of the time Ms. Wentworth doesn’t even know I’m there.”

“When did this happen?” Nora asked.

“Four weeks ago.”

Nora nodded. That fit the time line of events she was forming in her head. “Have you ever seen your employer do drugs, Elaine?”

“Drugs? Like… cocaine?” Elaine asked for clarification. She shook her head. “No. Never. But she has come home some nights… seemed…”

“Wired? Euphoric?” Nikki suggested.

“Yes. Her eyes glassy and far away.”

“Did you ever see her take prescription medication?” Nora wondered.

Elaine considered the question and slowly nodded. “Actually, yes. On the nights you mentioned. I believe she also takes something to help her sleep.” She was quiet for a moment. “She also gets headaches sometimes,” she continued. “Wakes up with very bad ones. I think she may have a prescription for those as well, but she usually seems to suffer through them. She’s almost… defiant with them.”

Nora frowned. “I’ve not seen her show any pain.”

“It’s mostly in the mornings. Sometimes it’s bad enough to make her sick.”

A little boy appeared in the doorway in Snoopy pajamas, rubbing at his eyes. His dark hair fell in a shiny sweep over his tan skin. “Mamá?”

“Fernando, go back to bed. Mamá will be right there,” Elaine promised.

“No, that’s okay,” Nikki said with a quick look at her partner to confirm. “We’ve taken up enough of your time tonight. We’ll leave you to get some rest. Thank you for your help.” She stood and Nora did the same.

“You won’t tell Ms. Wentworth…” Elaine began.

“Definitely not,” Nora vowed. “We never had this conversation.” She made a mental note to talk to Maxwell Anderson about Elaine Alvarez. Maybe he could find the woman a good job. She was going to need one after they put her current employer behind bars.  
Back out in the night, the detectives walked to the car and slipped inside, sitting in the darkness with their thoughts for a few minutes.

“I never saw any signs that Sarah was sick,” Nora finally murmured. “She doesn’t look sick. I didn’t find any medications at the house, either.”

“Could be migraines,” Nikki speculated. “I get them sometimes.”

“You’ve never told me that. Have you?” Nora said as she turned her head and looked at her partner.

“You don’t know everything about me… yet,” Nikki added with a half-hearted wink.

“We need Sarah Wentworth’s medical records,” Nora decided. “Gonna be a bitch to get them, though.”

“What difference does it make if she’s sick? It could just be headaches,” Nikki pointed out. “It doesn’t necessarily mean she’s got something… fatal.”

“We should be so lucky,” Nora grumped. She sighed when she saw her partner’s reproachful look. Nora growled in frustration. “The woman is driving me crazy.”

“I thought I was doing that.”

Nora turned her head and looked at Nikki in disbelief for a moment before she laughed. “Women,” she joked as she started the car.

Nikki smiled. “Some of us are worth it,” she promised.


	10. Chapter 10

The steady sound of rain lured Nikki from sleep. Her eyelids fluttered opened and she took in the gray light peering in around her closed wood blinds with distaste. Fat drops struck the windowpane with a constant patter, and Nikki frowned at the thought of trudging out in what sounded like ugly weather. Her gaze went to the clock on her nightstand and her frown deepened when she realized the fall storm had woken her ten minutes before the alarm. Life had apparently decided to piss on her today.

Grumbling, Nikki scooted across her king-size bed and shut off the alarm. Her hand came to rest on the pillow beside her, and Nikki sighed as her fingers took in the chill of soft cotton. It would have been far more enjoyable to wake up to a rainy day if she could have spent it in a warm, soft bed with her partner.

Nikki’s thumb stroked the pillow absently. This… thing with Nora was so damn different than anything she was used to. Nikki couldn’t get enough of her partner, on the job or off it. Already Nora had become the first person she wanted to talk to in the morning and the last voice she wanted to hear at night. It was kind of ridiculous actually.

But there was something damned appealing about it as well. The sweet tug of heat she felt in Nora’s presence. The way Nora could look at her and her brain and mouth would short-circuit and leave her a babbling idiot. The warmth she felt just hearing Nora say her name.

Nikki closed her eyes and pulled the pillow to her chest, breathing in the smell of clean cotton as she wished she were wrapping her arms around Nora instead. They were getting close to the tipping point, that moment of no return when they would fall into bed together. Nikki could hardly believe they’d lasted this long, and she knew it was down to days, if not hours. No human being could want someone this much and stay sane, let alone functional.

It was time to scratch that itch, hopefully slowly and over many hours Nikki thought with a sensuous smile, before that itch drove them both crazy. The thought of undressing Nora, of exploring every inch of skin on her partner’s body… Nikki swallowed and clutched the pillow tighter. She couldn’t wait to melt into Nora’s heat, to tangle their bodies together as hands and lips explored. More than anything, Nikki wanted to know what Nora sounded like when she-

The ring of her cell phone jarred Nikki from her pleasant thoughts. She heard Nestor scramble to his feet, his claws clacking on the wood floor as she reached for the cell phone on her nightstand.

“Detective Beaumont,” she greeted the caller when she didn’t recognize the number.

Nikki listened intently, feeling something cold and painful curling in her stomach as the voice continued. She closed her eyes at the news. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Snapping her phone closed, she took a moment to simply lay there and gather her strength. Nikki knew she was going to need it. The day had most definitely decided to piss on her.

She rolled out of bed and grabbed her robe. “Come on, boy,” she said to Nestor. “I have to go to jail.”

****

Dan was waiting for her as a guard led Nikki to the prison infirmary. The harsh fluorescent lights made her wince after driving through the dreary morning mist and passing the walls and walls of iron bars and gunmetal gray cinder blocks. She dipped her head at her captain in greeting before her gaze darted around the room hunting for Nora.

“She’s not here yet,” Dan said, guessing what she was looking for.

“Does she know?” Nikki asked carefully, tightening her leather duster around her damp and shivering frame.

Dan shook his head and put his hands on his hips. He’d chosen jeans today just as Nikki had, and they were still spattered with drying drops of rain. “No. I didn’t know all the details when I called her.” He stared at her for a moment. “This one is on me,” Dan told her softly.

Nikki sighed. “I appreciate the sentiment, Captain,” she said wearily, “but I think this one is on all of us.” She moved past him, putting her hand on his shoulder and squeezing gently. The muscle rippled under his cotton shirt and she could almost feel the gratitude he felt but didn’t voice. Nikki wasn’t wild about his obvious feelings for Nora, but he was a good guy. Dan didn’t need to take on the sole burden of another life lost, not when that life had really been lost a long time ago.

Charlie was waiting for her at the other end of the infirmary next to an overturned gurney. He gave her a tight smile. “Morning,” he greeted with little enthusiasm. “Sorry to start your day off like this, sugar.”

Nikki managed a meager smile for him in return. “Goes with the job, Charlie.” She braced herself before looking to her right and down. Knowing what she would see still didn’t prepare her for the shock of looking into David Wentworth’s eyes. They looked back at her wide and unseeing, death having extinguished the light in them hours ago. “Damn it.”

“About sums it up,” Charlie agreed.

There was a lot of blood, Nikki noted, switching into cop mode by necessity. David had somehow freed one of his wrists from his restraints and gotten a hand on a scalpel. His wrists were slashed deeply, sliced with determination given the few shallow hesitation marks. David had wanted to die so badly he’d clearly toppled the gurney over trying to get his other wrist free so he could gain better access. That wrist was still in the restraint, lifted above his head, David’s blood having run down his arm to join the large pool of it on the floor.

“Damn it,” Nikki breathed again. She closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead, trying to decide what she needed to do next… trying not to remember that she cared about the stupid kid. Seeing this was going to tear Nora to pieces.

“Looks like suicide this time,” Charlie said quietly as Dan approached. “I’ll make sure, though.”

“Nora just arrived at the front gate. She’ll be back in a minute,” Dan informed them as the crime scene techs continued to gather evidence and a gurney arrived with a body bag to remove David’s remains.

“She doesn’t need to see this,” Nikki decided. As hard as David’s death was hitting her, it would be worse on Nora. “I’ll catch her before she gets back here.”

“She’s a cop,” Dan argued, catching Nikki’s elbow before she could leave. “This isn’t the first time she’s dealt with something like this, Nikki.”

“Just because she has before doesn’t mean she has to today.” Nikki withdrew her arm from his grip deliberately and started for the hall, but she was already too late.

Nora stood frozen in the entryway of the infirmary. Her green eyes were on Charlie as she processed the meaning of his presence before shifting her gaze to Nikki and Dan. Her eyes met Nikki’s, and Nikki swallowed at the anguish she could see reflected back at her. Without a word, Nora pivoted on her foot, kicking a trashcan over before storming out of the room.

Charlie spoke first, nudging Nikki in Nora’s direction. “I got this, sugar. I’ll take good care of him.”

“There was never any doubt, Charlie,” Nikki replied. She started after her partner only to be brought up short once more by Dan’s touch on her elbow.

“Let me get this,” Dan offered. “I know her best. I can talk some sense into her.”

“Maybe,” Nikki replied, her brown eyes intense on his features. “But I’m her partner now,” she continued in a steely voice. “It’s my job.” Jerking her elbow free, Nikki went after Nora, fully aware that she’d probably just stepped in it big time with her boss. She really didn’t care.

Nikki moved away, breaking into a jog after her partner. She caught up with her just as Nora plowed through a door and stumbled outside into the rain, already having passed security she was moving so quickly.

“Just… don’t,” Nora said, her voice elevated over the pounding rain as Nikki approached. She began to pace as if she were about to come out of her skin. “Don’t tell me this isn’t our fault. Don’t tell me we did the right thing…”

“He killed his parents, Nora,” Nikki reminded her partner bluntly.

“He’s a fucked up kid.” Nora covered her eyes with one hand and struggled not to let tears slip down her face. She was so angry she just wanted to hit something… anything. “I got that kid off the ledge. I risked us both to do it. You’re telling me I should have just let him jump?”

“You know better,” Nikki replied in a steady voice, not allowing herself to become angry.

Nora did know better, but it didn’t stop the feeling of helplessness… of rage. “I let him down. I let him down,” she repeated, shaking her head as the rain soaked her hair and clothes. “I should have fought with Dan… found a way to put David somewhere other than here.”

“Hey.” Nikki reached for Nora’s arm and felt stung when Nora jerked away. Insistent, she reached for her again, grabbing Nora’s shoulder and spinning her partner around to face her. “Listen to me,” Nikki ordered.

“Damn it, Nikki…” Nora’s voice wavered, but her eyes were clear and angry when they shifted to her partner’s face.

“Listen to me!” Nikki snapped. “We did our jobs. Someone in there,” she said with a jerk of her finger at the prison, “didn’t do his or hers. David Wentworth should have been secured and monitored. We didn’t put a scalpel in his hands… we didn’t force him to commit suicide.”

“Is that what he did?” Nora looked up into Nikki’s brown eyes. “He slit his wrists?”

Nikki took a breath, trying to calm her own wild emotions in an effort to soothe Nora’s. “Just like he did to his mother,” Nikki reminded her when she saw the pain in Nora’s eyes.

“We both know Sarah…” Nora started.

“We do,” Nikki cut her off. “Sarah orchestrated it. She pulled his strings… but as much as we feel for that kid, Nora… David still took the drugs, knowing full well the effect they had on him. He’s not completely without blame. He knew that.”

“And you don’t think he could live with it.” Nora’s voice lowered and evened out. She wiped a hand over her face, shivering a little in the steady rain. “The drugs cleared out of his system enough and he remembered…”

“What would you have done?” Nikki asked her gently. “Nora, David was dead one way or another the minute Sarah started all of this.”

It was cold comfort. Nora turned away from her partner to stare out at the prison yard, a sea of razor wire and chain-link fence nearly obscured by the heavy rain. She blew out a frustrated breath, but the sound of the rain and Nikki’s nearness finally began to settle her nerves. “Fuck me. I got another cast wet,” she drawled unexpectedly.

Nikki chuckled in simple relief, feeling the tension in her muscles release so fast she got light-headed. “About time for it to come off anyway, right? Maybe they can just cut it off for good.” Her fingers found Nora’s and tangled with her partner’s, gently urging Nora to turn and face her again. “This really isn’t our fault. It sucks. I won’t deny that. Someone will lose their job for this. And I will make damn good and sure that Sarah Wentworth loses her freedom.”

Nora lifted her head, rain sluicing down her cheeks as she looked at Nikki. She sighed. “Not starting off this day in a good way.”

“Not especially,” Nikki agreed, relieved that Nora no longer seemed so upset. She pulled her closer, dragging her partially under an overhang. The scent of Nora’s perfume drifted to her on the breeze and she inhaled it hungrily, resisting the inappropriate urge to lean closer to her partner and nuzzle her neck. Seeing Nora upset had rattled her own nerves, and the contact was just what she needed to calm them.

The door behind them opened and Dan stuck his head out, looking at both his detectives in confusion. His gaze went to their linked hands before he glanced back up to their faces. “What in the hell are you two doing?” he blurted before shaking his head. “Never mind. Get back in here. I got something for you to see.”

****

Towels wrapped around their necks, Nikki and Nora returned to the infirmary. Charlie was finishing up as they arrived. The medical examiner snapped off his latex gloves as his assistants raised the gurney with David Wentworth’s remains sealed inside the body bag. The two detectives stepped aside as the coroner’s assistant rolled the body past them.

Nora wanted to look, needed to see for herself what had become of that young man she’d pulled off the ledge, but she felt the brush of Nikki’s fingers against the back of her wrist, a wordless plea to remember David Wentworth as something other than a suicide victim. Nora swallowed and let the gurney continue on its way. She turned her head and found Nikki watching her and she gave her partner a weak smile of thanks.

“Over here,” Dan said and watched as his detectives wrenched their eyes off each other and focused on him. They approached slowly, Nora’s wet tennis shoes squeaking on the concrete floor.

“This wasn’t your fault,” Dan told them both but his eyes were on Nora.

“What do you have?” Nora asked, in no mood to repeat the conversation she’d just had with her partner. Nikki would be the more convincing of the two anyway.

Dan looked like he wanted to say more, but he held his tongue. Wordlessly, he handed Nora a note sealed in a plastic evidence bag. Nora took it and leaned back so she and Nikki could go shoulder to shoulder to read it. They looked up at Dan when they’d both finished.

“I don’t care what you charge her with. Go arrest that bitch,” Dan informed them before he moved past them and out of the infirmary.

Nora let her thumb stroke over the plastic that held the note. “I forgive you for murdering our parents. You weren’t yourself when you slashed mother’s wrists and left her to die in her bathtub…” She swallowed thickly. “If David didn’t remember before…”

“He sure as hell did after getting Sarah’s note. Let’s skip the arrest. I vote we just shoot her.”

The gallows humor worked and Nora managed a snort of amusement. “Tempting. Let’s go get her. At least we can keep her out of the way for a while, give us a chance to figure out what in the hell is really going on.”

“We need to deal with your cast first.”

Nora glanced down at the object in question and winced at its deteriorating state. “Let me at least call a couple of uniforms to go scoop her up.”

“I’ll handle it.” Nikki held out her hand, palm side up, before wiggling her fingers. “Give me your keys.”

“Didn’t you drive?”

“Caught a cab. Give me your keys.”

Nora gave her partner a grumpy look but complied, slapping the key ring into Nikki’s palm. Her partner’s fingers unexpectedly closed over her hand, holding her in place for a moment. Nora felt her heart lurch as both fear and pleasure threaded through her veins. Hating herself for it, her eyes darted around the room to see if anyone else was watching.

“We’ll get Sarah for this,” Nikki promised her. “We’ll avenge him.”

“We’ll avenge them all,” Nora agreed. Her gaze landed on Charlie and she felt her breath catch at the way he was watching them. A tiny smile twitched under his red moustache before he turned and went back to work.

Nikki glanced over her shoulder, wondering what Nora was looking at as her partner withdrew her hand. When she saw nothing out of the ordinary, Nikki turned her focus back on Nora. “Come on. Let’s get that cast taken care of.”

****

“She’s going to lecture me.”

Nikki didn’t even glance up from the three month old People magazine she was thumbing through. They were in an examination room at the hospital, waiting not so patiently for Nora to be checked out. Nora was pacing, but Nikki knew she was the more nervous of the two. They were waiting on Nora’s mother. “Would you relax?”

“You don’t know my mother,” Nora huffed. “She can lay on the Catholic guilt like nobody’s business.”

“Why would she give you Catholic guilt for getting your cast wet?”

“It’s what she does. She gives me Catholic guilt for everything.”

Nikki smiled and turned the page. “She seemed nice the few times I was around her.” Granted, those times had been brief. Nikki had only met Nora’s mother and stepfather when Nora had been in the hospital recovering from the injuries she received in the fire, and Nikki had usually fled the room as soon as they arrived.

The door opened and Nikki resisted the urge to snap to attention like a soldier. She put the magazine down and forced a polite smile on her face. “Hi, Mrs. Conley,” she greeted, welcoming Nora’s mother by her current married name.

“Detective,” Elizabeth Conley greeted Nikki with a curt nod before her sharp gaze landed on her daughter. Nora was two inches taller than her and far more lean and muscular, but there was something intimidating about the smaller woman. “You ruined another one?” she asked her daughter.

“Not on purpose,” Nora explained. “I just got… This case that I’m…”

“She got caught in the rain,” Nikki supplied.

Elizabeth shook her head. “Dr. Lansing wants to x-ray you. Deacon is already waiting for you in x-ray one. Move young lady.” She swatted Nora on the butt.

“Mom,” Nora complained with a note of outrage in her voice and an embarrassed look at her partner.

“You waste my time with this twice in one week,” Elizabeth pointed out. “I could be treating the sick and infirm but instead I’m dealing with my careless daughter. Shoo.”

Nikki bit her bottom lip to keep from laughing.

“Don’t encourage her,” Nora ordered when she saw Nikki’s shoulders shake with a silent laugh. She mouthed the words Catholic guilt at her partner before turning back to her mother. “You’re evil,” Nora told her mother before yanking open the door and heading down the hall.

Nikki cleared her throat when she suddenly realized she was alone with Nora’s mother. Her partner shared the shape of her face with Elizabeth Conley but little else in the way of physical resemblance. Elizabeth had short, slightly curly brown hair and her eyes were a dark hazel. Nora obviously took after her father. “Sorry to interrupt your rounds,” Nikki began.

Elizabeth waved off the apology with a sweep of her hand. “I give her a hard time because she gives herself such a hard time. She doesn’t look out for herself the way she should.” Her hazel eyes studied Nikki with open curiosity. “You made her come in, didn’t you?”

“Uh…” Nikki wasn’t sure what the right answer was to that question, so she just let it hang there between them.

Elizabeth simply stared at her. “That’s what you’re supposed to do, yes? Look out for each other?”

Nikki decided she needed to stand. She was feeling too much like a scolded five year old sitting down with Nora’s mother hovering over her. “Yes,” Nikki agreed as she got to her feet. “To both questions,” she added with a faint smile.

“Hmm.”

Nora’s mother eyed her openly and Nikki resisted the urge to squirm. Nora was incredibly close to her family, and Nikki knew it was vital for whatever kind of relationship they were going to have for Nora’s family to at least tolerate her, if not accept her. Nervously, she tucked her hair behind her ears and tried to control her sudden shallow breathing. “I trust your daughter to have my back as well,” she added with a smile, hoping that would score her a few points.

“I’ll admit, I wasn’t so sure about you when Nora told me about her new partner.” Elizabeth Conley was apparently unconcerned about what Nikki thought about her.

Nikki’s smile faltered. “Oh?”

“You’re a woman. I feel better about a man watching my daughter’s back,” Elizabeth told her without remorse. “This is a dangerous job she’s chosen.”

“It is,” Nikki agreed, willing herself to remain calm and to not get defensive. “And I can understand your concerns…”

Elizabeth held up her hand and her features unexpectedly softened. “I never got the chance to say thank you,” she interrupted Nikki. “For pulling my daughter out of that fire. You always ran away every time we showed up. You may not have much courage dealing with your partner’s parents, but you have it when it counts.”

Nikki gave her a wry smile, feeling some of the tension that had been creeping into her shoulders start to ease. “I was never very good at meeting the parents,” she said teasingly. “Probably because I’m not always exceptionally good with my own.”

Elizabeth actually gave her a fraction of a smile and Nikki felt almost triumphant.

“You’re Arthur Beaumont’s child,” Elizabeth said knowingly.

And just like, the feeling of victory dissolved. “I am,” Nikki admitted with a rough swallow. The woman had a talent for keeping a person off balance. One thing she and her offspring definitely had in common.

“There is a ward in this hospital named after your mother.”

Nikki nodded and felt her throat tighten. “I know. Did you ever meet her?”

Elizabeth pursed her lips. “Before my time. I’m afraid I never had the pleasure.”

“From the way you say my father’s name, I’m guessing you’ve met my daddy,” Nikki commented.

There was a shocked paused and then Elizabeth chuckled. “I’m sure he is an acquired taste.”

“He is at that,” Nikki agreed, finally feeling her breathing and heart rate slow.

They looked at each other for a long silent moment.

“We should get together for coffee sometime, Nikki. I’d like to get to know the woman who keeps my daughter safe.” Elizabeth put a gentle hand on Nikki’s shoulder and squeezed, finally relenting and offering her a genuine smile.

“I see where Nora gets her skills with interrogation,” Nikki joked, wishing she had a glass of water to combat her dry throat.

Elizabeth merely laughed as her daughter reentered the room. Nora looked from one woman to the other, an expression of sheer panic on her face. “What?” she demanded. “You’re not telling her embarrassing stories from my childhood are you?”

“I save those for the men you date, dear,” Elizabeth replied with a smirk. “And Dan, of course.” She glanced down. “Cast free, I see.”

Nora shrugged as she flexed her fingers, trying to rid her hand of the tingling sensation. “I think they’re getting tired of me.” Her gaze went to Nikki and she searched her partner’s face, wondering what Nikki had talked about with her mother.

“I can’t imagine why,” Elizabeth murmured. “Be sure to schedule your physical therapy, dear. I’ll know if you don’t.” She ignored her daughter’s exasperated expression as she turned back to Nikki. “It was nice chatting with you, Detective. Call me soon for that cup of coffee.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Nikki promised with a nod of her head.

Elizabeth swatted her daughter on the butt again as she left the room.

“Coffee?” Nora asked, her voice hitting a high register Nikki had never heard before.

Nikki laughed. “Come on,” she urged, grabbing Nora’s right hand just because she could. “Hopefully the uniforms have Sarah in a cage now. And I need food. I skipped breakfast.”

“Coffee?” Nora asked again as they left the room.

****

Their good humor didn’t last. No sooner had they hit the parking lot than Nora was back to kicking things, this time the rear door of the El Camino. She hung up her cell phone, slipping it into her pocket.

“What’s wrong?” Nikki demanded.

“Sarah is in the wind. Maid says she hasn’t seen her and two suitcases are missing.” Nora bit her lip and glanced around the wet parking lot, listening to the pavement pop and sizzle as the rain dried on the warm surface. “Son-of-a-bitch. Could we fuck this one up any more than we already have?”

“We had nothing to hold her on, Nora,” Nikki reminded her partner. “We don’t now. We’re only arresting her because the captain told us to.”

Nora kicked the car again for good measure and Nikki winced, hoping her partner wasn’t denting the pretty paint job.

Nikki’s phone rang and she slipped it out of her pocket, flipping it open when she saw Darius’s name on the caller ID. “Tell me you got something good, sugar. I got a pissed off partner I need to calm down.” She smiled sweetly as Nora turned outraged green eyes on her.

Nikki listened carefully before nodding. “Okay. Meet us at Coop’s, Darius. I’m starving and need some Cajun fried chicken. You can fill us in there.” She folded the phone and tucked it back into the pocket of her leather jacket.

“What’s he got?” Nora demanded as she caught the keys Nikki tossed at her over the roof of the car.

“He may know where Sarah’s hiding,” Nikki explained as she slid into the passenger seat and closed her door. “And he thinks he knows why Sarah started all of this.”

“Yeah?” Nora asked as she got behind the wheel.

“He sounded about ready to burst with whatever it is.” Nikki turned her head to say more and found her words dying on her tongue as Nora leaned across the seat and kissed her unexpectedly. Heat erupted in the pit of Nikki’s guts, sending a flash fire racing through her veins. She kissed Nora back, taking her sweet time of it until Nora slowly and reluctantly pulled away.

“What was that for?” Nikki asked, the kiss making her feel positively drunk on hormones.

“Just glad you’re here,” Nora said, her cheeks red as she started the car. She cleared her throat, not sure what had come over her. “You know how to keep my head on straight.”

Nikki bit her lip in shy pleasure as they pulled out of the parking lot. “Um… okay.” She leaned her head back against the seat and regarded her partner with bemusement. “Feel free to be glad I’m here anytime.”

Nora smiled bashfully as she eased them out into traffic, heading for the French Quarter, some fresh information, and some Cajun fried chicken.


	11. Chapter 11

Coop’s was packed, and Nikki and Nora found themselves plastered against the doors the moment they stepped inside with barely any room to move. There were at least fifteen people waiting to be seated in front of them, and Nikki wondered if the scowl that had formed on her partner’s face at seeing the long line in the small establishment meant Nora might whip out either her gun or her badge to thin the herd.

A bulldog brushed against Nikki’s ankle as it waddled by and she grinned at the familiar sight. Following the stout little guy with her eyes, she glanced up to see Darius motioning to them from across the room.

Without a second thought, Nikki intertwined her fingers with Nora’s and gave her partner a tug, not releasing her hand until they were seated at a dark wood table across from a grinning Darius. Already Nikki could smell the fried chicken and her stomach grumbled in anticipation.

“Officers,” Darius drawled, his knowing gaze on their linked hands as they sat down. “Having a good day, I hope?”

Nora almost growled at him, too upset by David’s death and the continued freedom his sister was enjoying to notice Darius’s speculative glance. “Not hardly.”

“I got to talk to Nora’s mom,” Nikki supplied with a grin as the waitress appeared and grumpily took their orders before walking away. She frowned at the less than friendly service. Seemed like the whole city was pissed today. As she glanced back at Darius, a flash of lightning made Nikki blink as the clouds opened up once more and began to dump buckets of water on the street outside.

Darius’s eyebrows rose and his gaze went to the now blushing Nora. “Meeting the parents so soon?”

Nora tried to kick him under the table and only succeeded in banging her toes against the table leg. Darius smiled in triumph and blew Nora a little kiss.

“Seriously, Darius, it’s been a shitty day,” Nikki admitted. “You heard about David Wentworth?”

The informant nodded, his smile fading. “Sucks for you both, but I have a hard time feeling sorry for the kid. He did murder his parents.”

“Probably didn’t even remember doing it.” Nora sighed as the waitress returned and set their sodas in front of them before disappearing into the crowd again. “What a screwed up kid.”

“Not anymore,” Darius reminded her gently.

Nora nodded in acknowledgment as she caught a whiff of the rain as the door opened and closed. Her faith taught her that David was a lost boy forever now, but she didn’t want to believe God couldn’t find a better place for him. Purgatory and Hell were places more suited to David’s sister. She felt Nikki’s fingers glide over her knee to rest reassuringly on her thigh. Nora bit her lip. Her faith had plenty to say about the kind of relationship forming between her and Nikki as well, but she’d long struggled with those teachings, even before Nikki Beaumont had sauntered into her life.

Nikki nudged her partner when she realized Nora’s attention had drifted.

“What?” Nora asked, her head snapping up. “Sorry. Thinking.”

“Your attention wanders a lot in my presence,” Darius joked with the blonde detective. “Should I take it personally?”

A tiny grin finally lifted Nora’s lips. “You give a girl a lot to think about, Darius,” she shot back teasingly.

“You say the nicest things.” Darius took a sip of his soda before leaning back, allowing the waitress to set Nikki’s and Nora’s orders on the table. He watched them both take their first bites, pursing his lips as he thought about the information he had to share with them. He was about to earn his informant fees in a big way, but the usual satisfaction he felt when he’d scored vital information was curiously absent. He sighed as he slid his elbows on the table.

Licking her lips, Nikki hesitated before popping a fry into her mouth, seeing a pensive expression come over Darius’s features. “Uh-oh,” she murmured. “I don’t like that look.”

Nora glanced from Nikki to Darius as she wiped her fingers on her napkin. “What is it?” she asked Darius.

The informant hedged. “You check Charles’s house? He has a guest home in the back. Word has it Sarah and David would use it to party right under daddy’s nose.”

“I wouldn’t put it past Sarah to bunk down at one of her victim’s homes. The woman has no shame.” Nikki shook her head and took a sip of her Diet Coke. “But that’s not what you came here to tell us,” she guessed, feeling her appetite fade as apprehension tightened the muscles along her neck and shoulders.

“Shame isn’t all Sarah is short on,” Darius declared.

Nikki and Nora blinked at him. “What is that supposed to mean?” Nora muttered, feeling her stomach drop at his tone.

“My sources don’t have to worry about red tape and little things like doctor/patient confidentiality.” Darius linked his fingers before leaning forward. “I’m hearing Sarah is sick.”

“Sick,” Nora repeated. “We knew that already. You don’t kill your whole family when you’re right in the head, but I’m guessing that’s not what you meant.”

The corner of Darius’s mouth ticked up in a half grin. “Not exactly.”

“How sick are we talking about?” Nikki wondered, remembering the brief conversation she’d had with Nora on the subject outside the maid’s home. Her fading appetite vanished completely.

“Terminally sick,” Darius replied evenly, not bothering to mince words, not with these two. “The brain tumor will get her before the needle will.”

They were silent, the sounds of conversation, frying chicken, and rain washing over them as Nikki and Nora processed the news.

“Son of a bitch.” Nora raked a hand through her hair, feeling fresh anger burn through her. “She’s dying?” she snapped out. Nora remembered jokingly hoping for just such a diagnosis, but she hadn’t meant it. She clenched her fists, feeling fresh anger burn through her.

Darius nodded. “Sounds like it. Inoperable tumor.”

“She doesn’t look sick, Darius,” Nikki informed him. “I’ve not seen anything that would indicate she’s dying.”

“The maid,” Nora reminded her partner, bringing up the conversation they were both thinking about. “Remember her talking about Sarah’s headaches?”

Nikki nodded absently. “But still, Nora, the woman smokes like a freight train. She’s out having sex several times a week with different partners. She’s doing drugs with her brother. All that and she still looks pretty damn good, I have to say.”

“The doctors spotted it early,” Darius continued. “Lucky her. She gets to know she’s dying for a longer period of time. She’ll only get worse from here.”

“When did she find out?” Nora asked.

“Eight weeks ago,” Darius said as he picked up a chicken leg and bit into it.

“So eight weeks ago, Sarah finds out she’s dying. Two weeks later, her parents cut her out of their wills,” Nora murmured, her brain fiercely turning over all the angles of this new information.

“Her brother was clean and sober, finally getting his life together. Charles and Marjorie were finally trying to act like parents to her and David…” Nora worked through the timeline out loud.

“Everyone was getting their life together just when Sarah found out she was losing hers,” Darius added as he wiped his greasy fingers on his jeans.

“Sarah is a competitor,” Nikki murmured. “She wouldn’t be able to deal with her overweight father, stroke addled mother, and junkie brother outliving her.”

“And it’s always been about money with her,” Nora continued Nikki’s train of thought. “Sarah probably always thought it would all be hers. She just had to wait, be a little patient.”

“And when she was diagnosed, Sarah made sure she got it all.” Nikki shook her head. “Do you think she would have killed them if they hadn’t cut her out of the will?” she asked her partner.

Nora shrugged, the motion tense and jerky. “Yeah, I don’t think it would’ve mattered either way. She was angry with them. They got to live and she didn’t.”

“He who dies with the most toys wins,” Nikki muttered in disgust. “Guess it’s a she this time.”

“Thanks, Darius,” Nora told him in a subdued voice. There would be no satisfying end to this case. There would only be one more death. And it would come for Sarah Wentworth as a mercy instead of a punishment.

Unable to deal with her emotions, Nora got up from the table, threw a wad of cash down next to her plate, and then shoved her way through the crowd and left out into the pouring rain.

Sometimes the world was really fucking unfair.

****

“Nora. Nora!” Nikki dodged umbrella after umbrella as she weaved through a throng of tourists on the narrow, uneven sidewalk, chasing after her partner who was walking at a brisk, angry clip toward where they’d parked the car. Nikki decided Nora’s expression had to be murderous by the way people cleared a path for the blonde detective, something they seemed to have no interest in doing for her.

Ordering herself not to shove anyone in her desperation to get to Nora, Nikki risked stepping out into the rain-slicked street and running around the slow moving pedestrians. The maneuver worked, too, with only one horn honk and an angry shout as repercussions for her reckless behavior.

Nikki caught Nora just as she was about to get into the car. The rain had slackened, but it was still heavy enough to soak them both. She grabbed her partner’s elbow with one hand while slamming the door shut with the other. “Talk to me,” she ordered as she spun Nora around to face her.

“What is there to talk about?” Nora spat. “Sarah is getting away with murder. Even if we haul her in… even with a confession… she won’t do the time.”

“She’s dying, Nora,” Nikki replied evenly.

“Am I supposed to feel bad about that? Is it the tumor that turned her into a killer or was it finding out she had one that caused her to butcher her family?”

“Hey, I’m pissed about this, too,” Nikki said as she stepped closer, forcing Nora against the car with the press of her body, trying to soothe her partner with both her touch and voice.

“What difference does it make?” Nora asked, but her voice had evened out as she soaked up Nikki’s heat and nearness. The woman could calm her down faster than a sedative, and that was saying something. She knew when her fiery Irish temper kicked in that she was a complete pain in the ass to deal with.

“It means that we can still hit Sarah where it hurts most. It’s a game to her, Nora. She doesn’t win unless she gets the money.”

Nora’s green eyes lifted and locked on to the warm brown gaze watching her knowingly. “The one with the most toys at the end wins,” she murmured thoughtfully.

Nikki nodded. “We can’t take away her freedom, but we can take away those toys.”

“That…” Nora hesitated, feeling her emotions steady. “That would be worse.”

“That would be worse,” Nikki agreed. “Plan B, remember?”

Hesitantly, wary of the crowds milling about on the sidewalk in front of them, Nora lifted her hand and let her fingertips slide down Nikki’s wet cheek in silent thanks. “You have an evil streak,” Nora murmured.

Nikki gave her a lopsided smile, her body tingling from Nora’s unexpected touch. “You ain’t seen nothing, yet, sugar.” She leaned in and kissed Nora on the mouth, a quick press of her lips meant to reassure rather than arouse. “Now as much as I’d like to stand here and kiss you in the rain, we should probably get going.”

Nodding, Nora simply continued to stare at Nikki, feeling her emotions for the other woman swell and nearly drown her in that moment. “Okay,” she whispered, worried that if she said anything else that she would give voice to feelings she wasn’t ready to fully embrace just yet. It was getting so hard to hold the words in, though, and Nora knew it was just a matter of time before they escaped.

“Okay,” Nikki whispered back, feeling something change between them in the moment. She wanted to kiss Nora again, to make it last until they were both breathless, but they had to find Sarah first. They were so close to the end of this case and whatever beginning that awaited them she could almost taste it.

“Wanna drive?” Nora managed to say with a smirk as she held up the car keys.

Warm fingers closed over the keychain and Nora’s hand. “We’ll get her,” Nikki promised.

“Yeah,” Nora agreed. “By whatever means necessary.”

****

They were well on their way to Charles Wentworth’s guesthouse when one of them finally spoke again.

“Have dinner with me tomorrow,” Nikki murmured, her voice just loud enough to be heard over the rain drumming on the roof of the car. “I can bring something by your place. It could just be the two of us.”

Just the two of them. Nora swallowed, feeling both anticipation and anxiety at the idea. “I thought we were going to wait until the case was over.”

“It is over. At least it will be when Sarah is in custody, which will hopefully be by the end of the day.” Nikki watched Nora carefully, her toes crossed in her shoes as she prayed Nora would say yes. They needed a night alone to explore what was between them, to explore each other. Putting off what was happening between them to catch Sarah Wentworth made Nikki feel like the killer was getting away with more than just murder. Sarah had ended enough lives; Nikki didn’t feel like letting Sarah force her to put her life on hold, too.

“And if she isn’t behind bars by then?” Green eyes cut to Nikki, sparkling with a hint of mischief.

“A girl still has to eat,” Nikki practically purred. 

Nora licked her lips, trying to ignore the heat blooming in the pit of her stomach. “Sounds nice,” she confessed.

Taking a moment to just get lost in the angles of Nora’s profile, Nikki smiled. “I promise you a lot more than nice,” she teased, her voice an octave lower than usual.

Nora nearly shivered at the sound of it. “I’ll hold you to that,” she replied with a slow smile.

“So let’s go arrest that bitch so we can think about tomorrow night without a guilty conscience,” Nikki announced, reluctantly turning her attention back on the road.

A smile ghosted over Nora’s lips as she shook her head. “You live for moments like this,” she accused.

“Making you think about having sex with me?” Nikki asked bluntly, a knowing smirk on her features.

Nora cleared her throat as an image of her and Nikki doing just that flickered across her mind’s eye. “You’re the one who thinks about it first,” Nora retorted, pleased with her comeback.

“Nearly all the time,” Nikki replied without missing a beat. “And in many different ways.”

The car was quiet for a moment save for the rain and steady thump of the windshield wipers.

“You win,” Nora grumbled. She turned on the air conditioner as Nikki giggled with delight. It was suddenly very hot for a rainy fall day.

****

“Right place, wrong time, ladies,” Dan greeted them.

“Shit,” Nora groaned, feeling her improving mood disintegrate.

“We missed her,” Nikki guessed.

They stood outside on the grounds of the Wentworth estate, under the cover of a recently painted gazebo. Nora could smell the distinct scent as it carried on the breeze with the smell of rain, flowers, and wet grass. She even put her fingers on the nearest rail, expecting the pads of her fingers to come away coated in white. They didn’t. “I’m really starting to hate this woman.”

Dan pursed his lips in empathy. Cops were swarming over the estate behind them. As he watched, a cluster of uniformed officers emerged through a gate that led to the guesthouse, their hands filled with evidence bags. “She was here, though. Recently by the looks of it.”

“Think she’ll come back?” Nikki asked.

“With this circus?” Nora shook her head. “My money says she went out, came back and probably saw all this and bolted again.” She sighed, fighting the urge to feel like a failure.

“You’ll get her,” Dan said easily, his faith in his old partner carrying clearly through his voice. He turned his attention to Nikki. “You said you met with your informant when you called. He give you anything good?”

“Define good.”

“Sarah has an inoperable brain tumor,” Nora explained when Dan gave her partner a confused look.

“She’s dying?” he said incredulously. “Are you kidding me?”

Both of his detectives shook their heads. He could see their frustration telegraphed in every line of their bodies, and he hurt for both of them. “We’ll see she dies in prison, even if she doesn’t get to trial,” he vowed.

“She made certain that she didn’t directly kill anyone,” Nora huffed. “This whole damn case feels like a lost cause.”

“Sarah Wentworth is just as much responsible for the deaths of her parents as her brother,” Dan replied, his tone serious. “You know it and I know it. It’s our job to make sure everyone else in New Orleans knows it, too.”

“We took away the guesthouse,” Nikki reminded them both. “She has to find another place. Lost out on all the nice toys in there,” she added as she glanced at Nora meaningfully.

“It’s something,” Nora agreed, feeling her aggravation ease a fraction at the thought. “Any vehicles missing?”

“A black Corvette. We’ve got an APB out on the plates.” Dan slid his hands into the pockets of his raincoat. “Go check out the guesthouse. You know this woman as well as anyone. See if she left anything behind that the techs might have missed.”

“Yes, sir,” Nikki agreed only to pause when she saw Dan wrap his hand around Nora’s right wrist.

“You lost the cast,” he said with a smile that was for Nora alone.

Nora flexed her fingers but didn’t jerk away. “Kept getting the damned things wet,” she explained, her gaze darting to Nikki before landing back on her former partner. “It’s healed well enough.”

“No doubt. You’re practically made of steel,” he teased with a seductive grin.

“Does that mean I could break you in half?” Nora replied deadpan before pulling her hand away, amused by Dan’s flirting antics but feeling guilty as well, especially knowing that Nikki was watching them curiously.

Dan laughed. “I’ll just bet you could.”

Nora waved over her shoulder as she and Nikki descended the stairs and stepped back out into the rain, sharing an umbrella between them. They’d just cleared the gate and were on a path of crushed shells leading to the guesthouse when Nikki finally spoke.

“So what’s your story there?”

Nora glanced at her partner. “Huh?”

“With Dan?”

Scratching the bridge of her nose at the uncomfortable topic, Nora just shrugged. “Nothing.”

“You’re telling me you never slept with him,” Nikki said with disbelief. “A man who looks like that.” She’d asked Nora once before, but she had a hard time imagining that the two had nothing more than a platonic relationship all those years they were partners.

“Nope,” Nora answered simply. “He was my partner. Now he’s my boss.”

Nikki’s lips pressed into a thin smile. “I’m your partner…”

“That’s different,” Nora answered immediately.

“Really?” Nikki drawled skeptically as they made their way around a stone fountain needlessly spewing more water into the air. “I fail to see how.”

“I never wanted to sleep with Dan,” Nora admitted. “And I can’t seem to keep my hands off of you no matter how hard I try.” Blushing a little, Nora ducked out from under the umbrella and jogged up the steps to the guesthouse, leaving Nikki alone in the rain with a trace of a smile on her lips.

“You are in so much trouble with this woman, Beaumont,” she murmured to herself as she collapsed the umbrella and followed Nora inside.


	12. Chapter 12

Nora had been with the New Orleans Police Department for quite some time. She’d been shot at, hit by a car, nearly burned to death, and watched more than her fair share of friends and innocents die at the cruel hands of someone else. And yet, death, as used to it as she was, and as many times as she’d had brushes with it, still managed to take her by surprise.

Not David Wentworth’s, she admitted to herself, as she sat on a bench in the women’s locker room at the precinct. Sweat was pouring off of her, dripping down her face and bare arms, and seeping into the bruised and battered knuckles on her left hand, making them sting. Some part of her had known David’s death was coming sooner rather than later, perhaps because it had been so close to when they’d first met. Nora ached for his lost soul, and his death had been one of the many reason why she’d taken out the rage that had been building all day on her locker door, but it wasn’t his death that was making her fume. It wasn’t David’s death that made her want to scream at a God that felt very unfair and unjust to her at the moment.

Sarah Wentworth was going to die. Not as punishment for what she had done to her family, but because fate could be a cruel son-of-a-bitch, and justice was apparently nothing more than an illusion.

Nora dropped her head and ran a hand through her damp hair. She was alone, the place having cleared out quickly when she’d started punching her locker door. Some detached part of her had heard Georgia call her name, but in the end, her old friend had left her alone, knowing that she needed to rid herself of all the frustration and anger that had been boiling inside. Now Nora just hurt. Physically, her hand throbbed. Emotionally…

She sighed and closed her eyes, hearing Darius’s words echoing inside her head. No wonder the bitch had treated everything like a game. It was for her, and she had nothing to lose. Nothing that mattered, anyway.

The news had hit Nora like a sucker punch and had left her reeling all day. She felt like she couldn’t get her balance, and as Wentworth continued to elude them, it had only gotten worse. She’d taken to snapping at Nikki, and once Nora realized she was taking out her anger on her partner, she just shut down, keeping her mouth shut and holding all her fury inside. Now the sun was long since set, and Nora’s locker door was as history as this God-awful day.

The door creaked open, and Nora tilted her head, wondering who had come to either scold or offer comfort. She was in the mood for neither, but when she smelled familiar perfume and felt Nikki’s heat as her partner glided up next to her on the bench, Nora felt all the fight in her evaporate. She simply turned to the taller woman and felt Nikki’s arms come around her, enveloping her in a hug she had no desire to get out of.

“Wow,” Nikki murmured casually. “Good thing you just threw verbal punches at me today.” She gave the locker door at her feet a tiny kick, listening as the metal rocked against the concrete floor.

“Sorry,” Nora whispered against the clean smelling skin of Nikki’s neck. She shivered when her partner’s hand traced up her spine and came to rest under her hair. “I know I’ve been a bitch today.”

“More to your locker door than me, sugar,” Nikki promised as she leaned back and looked into Nora’s weary green eyes. “Your momma is gonna kill you if you broke that arm again.”

Nora snorted. “I had enough sense to use my other hand,” she revealed, holding it up for Nikki’s inspection.

“Ow,” was Nikki’s simple, deadpan answer, her brown eyes dancing with amusement.

“She’s going to get away with it, Nik,” Nora said with a sigh as she dropped her hand back into her lap. “Sarah Wentworth is going to get away with three murders.”

Nikki swallowed, the only outward sign that she was affected by Nora’s words. “I know.”

“Sometimes I wonder why we do this job.” Nora eased to her feet and went to the sink, turning on the cold tap and thrusting her knuckles into the icy stream. She winced and hissed softly in pain, but she didn’t move her hand. 

Nikki shifted on the bench and watched her. Darius’s news had stunned her as much as it had her partner, but where Nora had gotten angry, Nikki had opted to brood on the problem. “Do you think Sarah has always had a killer in her and it came to the surface when she found out that she was dying?”

Leaning her hip against the sink, Nora glanced back at Nikki. “I think it’s like you said. She couldn’t bear the thought of her overweight father, her stroke addled mother, and her junkie brother outliving her.”

“So, it was all about revenge,” Nikki said thoughtfully. “They got to live and she didn’t.”

Nora shook her head. “Not just revenge,” she added over the running water. “She wanted the money, too. Had probably thought it would be all hers soon, especially the way her family had been going.”

“Age and a close call had made Charles and Marjorie wiser, made them want to be better parents,” Nikki murmured. “Maybe knowing Max, too, seeing the way his children had turned out. Must have gotten them thinking.”

“They wanted to leave the world having done something right. Sarah just wants to leave it with the most toys.” Nora shut off the water and grabbed a handful of paper towels to blot her hand. “I can honestly say, I’m not sure I’ve ever had a day on the force that sucked more than this one.”

The wood bench creaked as Nikki stood up and came closer, one hand closing around the edge of the sink and the other hooking one of Nora’s belt loops to draw her closer. There were no words as she dipped her head and kissed her partner, not giving a damn if every woman on the force walked in and saw them. She expected Nora to withdraw, to even push her away, not the raw hunger her mouth was met with as Nora’s tongue tangled and dominated her own.

When they finally parted, both of them shaking, Nora’s right hand was underneath Nikki’s shirt, her thumb teasing tempting circles just above the waist of Nikki’s jeans. “Come home with me,” Nora whispered.

The offer sent a rush of heat pooling into Nikki’s belly. She licked her lips, tasting her partner on them. “Is that such a good idea?”

“Probably not,” Nora admitted, “but I really don’t give a damn.”

Shivering as her mind conjured all the ways they could spend the rest of the night together, Nikki had to step back just to be able to think clearly. “I just… You…” She shook her head, feeling her resistance crumble, not sure why she wanted to fight it anyway. Nora’s fingers gripped the front of her shirt and tugged her closer again. Nikki let her, unable to resist the gravitational pull Nora seemed to have on her.

There was a knock on the door a breath before their lips met. Nikki swore and stepped back, the look in Nora’s eyes making her feel like her body was on fire. She released a shuddering sigh. “Come in,” she called.

Dan poked his head around the door and Nikki wasn’t sure if she should punch him or hug him. She didn’t want the first time she made love to Nora to be about forgetting a day like this. She just wanted it to be about them and what they felt for each other. Angry sex with Nora didn’t sound like a half bad plan, either, though.

“What’s up, Captain?” Nikki asked around a rough swallow.

“You through busting up another locker?” he asked Nora.

Nora slid her left hand into her back pocket and shrugged. “Cheaper than therapy,” she replied, her voice huskier than normal.

Nikki didn’t dare look at her, keeping her eyes fixed on their superior officer. “I’ll happily pay for it, Captain. Rather her take out her frustrations on her locker than me.”

“It’ll come out of her paycheck, just like the last three.” Dan smiled when he spoke, taking the sting out of his words. “You two get into my office. I want to know where things stand on the Wentworth case.” 

“Be right there,” Nora promised, but the door was already closed. She waited for Nikki to turn around and face her, but her partner just stared at the floor. “I thought I’d be the one to get cold feet,” she murmured.

Nikki sighed. “I’m not getting cold feet.” Turning, she met Nora’s gaze squarely with her own. “If you want to go out with me tomorrow night, I’ll happily take you back to my place or follow you home to yours, but I am not going to serve the same purpose as your locker door. Our first time is not going to be about forgetting a shitty day.”

Nora blinked as her breath caught. “I wouldn’t…” She trailed off, realizing that was exactly her intent. Nora had wanted to forget about David and Sarah Wentworth. She wanted to feel alive after slogging through this day that felt like it was about nothing but death. She covered her eyes with her hand, revealing the small cuts and lurid bruises that were beginning to form on her knuckles. “Damn it.”

A warm touch eased around Nora’s wrist and drew her hand down. Nikki was smiling at her.

“I’ll bet that having sex with you to bleed off frustration can and will be a kickass way to relieve stress, but I don’t want that to be what you remember about the first time we’re together. Does that make sense?” Nikki asked as she bit her lip, wondering if she was being a crazy fool.

“It makes…” Nora sighed. “It makes me… love you even more,” Nora got out, her voice breaking as the words she’d been holding back finally escaped. Shaking with sudden panic, she kissed Nikki on the cheek before tearing out of the room like a bat out of hell.

Dragging air into her lungs had to be a conscious effort. Nikki stood there, too stunned by Nora’s words to move. The urge to run, to get away from the intensity of the feelings she had for Nora nearly took her over, but Nikki stood her ground. Something told her she was in the midst of the best damn thing that had ever happened to her, and she damn well wasn’t going to screw it up by being afraid.

Determined, Nikki followed Nora out the door. She vowed that she was going to talk to her partner as soon as they were done with Dan. They’d danced right up to the edge with their feelings, but Nora had just crossed a line they couldn’t uncross. Nikki felt both elated and terrified by the turn in events.

A wry smirk edged onto her features as she entered Dan’s office. 

****

It didn’t take long to brief Dan on the rest of the day’s events. Within the hour, both Nikki and Nora were stepping outside into the humid night air, breathing in the lingering scent of rain as it dripped from the trees and dried on the asphalt under their feet. Neither said a word as Nora walked Nikki to her car, even going so far as to open her door for her. They stood there, side-by-side, hesitantly meeting each other’s gaze under a weakening street lamp.

Nikki nervously licked her lips. “Um…” she began, trying to decide what to say. “I uh… what you said… in the locker room…”

Nora cleared her throat. “Uh… yeah. You…” She paused and raked a hand through her hair. “I didn’t… mean to freak you out… if I did.”

Nikki smiled faintly. “You definitely freaked me out.”

“Oh,” Nora whispered before swallowing hard. “It just… it slipped… You don’t have to…”

“Nora,” Nikki purred her partner’s name. “It… it’s a good kind of freaked out,” she promised, laying a hand on one of Nora’s arms, which were now crossed protectively over the detective’s chest.

“Oh,” Nora said again with a completely different inflection. They stared at each other for a long, intense moment. “I’m scared,” she confessed. “I’ve never… felt like this… especially…” She trailed off.

“For a woman?” Nikki guessed.

Nora’s jaw bunched, but she nodded.

Nikki glanced around the mostly empty parking lot. There were cameras, she knew, and they were the only things keeping her from pulling Nora in close to offer the comfort she suspected they both needed. “I’ve never felt like this for anyone, either,” she admitted, feeling her stomach turning some wicked, but wonderful, somersaults.

“Really?” Nora asked, sounding dubious.

“Really,” Nikki replied, her eyes serious. “Nora… I know we’re both wading into new territory here, but I… I can’t walk away from this… from you.”

Intense green eyes studied Nikki carefully. “We could really screw thing up,” Nora murmured. “And I don’t want to lose you as a partner. I don’t want to lose you as a friend.”

“We’re risking everything,” Nikki agreed and watched as Nora swallowed and dropped her gaze. “But I think… what’s happening between us… I think it could be worth it.”

Nora’s head came back up, and she looked at Nikki for a long, tense moment. “It already is,” she whispered.

Nikki smiled, leaning against her car to stay upright on her suddenly rubbery legs. “Just wait until tomorrow night, sugar.”

That got an embarrassed grin out of Nora, but her smile slowly faded as she continued to watch Nikki intently. “I really don’t want to wait anymore,” she confessed.

“Me either,” Nikki agreed. “But we both know this isn’t the night.”

“Yeah,” Nora allowed after a moment. She smirked a little. “I think I actually need to go soak my hand.”

Nikki’s answering laugh turned into a gasp as Nora leaned in and kissed her. She’d never been kissed so gently before, with so much feeling. Nikki felt tears well up in her eyes as she kissed Nora back, heedless of where they were and who might see.

They parted reluctantly, Nora’s hand skimming down Nikki’s cheek before she stepped back.

“Drive safe,” Nora ordered, her voice husky.

Nikki could only nod, her emotions caught up in the web Nora seemed to weave around her. She slid behind the wheel, sinking into the seat with a lack of grace, thanks to her wobbly legs. With one last, soft smile for her partner, Nikki closed her door and drove off into the night.

Nora watched her go, tracking her taillights until they faded from view.

“Got it bad, don’t you?”

Nora jumped in surprise before turning her head to meet Darius’s knowing look as he sauntered closer. “Never a good idea to sneak up on a cop,” she told the informant, resisting the urge to bring a hand to her chest to cover her suddenly pounding heart.

Darius smiled. “You two sure are a sight to see,” he told her. “I ain’t never seen Nikki this far gone over someone before. You got a hold of her good.”

Nora smiled lightly, pleased with the information. “Seems only fair since she certainly has a hold of me.” She cocked her head. “What brings you by, Darius?”

The informant accepted the change in topic easily. “I just got to thinking… you know how the mind is this time of night.”

Nora glanced at her watch and frowned, shocked by the lateness of the hour. “Oh yeah,” she agreed. Sliding her hands into the back pockets of her jeans, she winced a little as her scraped knuckles protested. “Thinking about something in particular?”

“Sarah Wentworth,” Darius confessed. “About what a sociopath might do if they found out they were dying.”

“I think we already have our answer to that, Darius. She helped off her entire family.”

Darius shook his head, casting a quick glance around the parking lot to make sure no one was approaching. “I’ve been doing some digging… Sarah ain’t a woman who lets a grudge go easy.” He motioned Nora toward the sidewalk, urging her to walk with him.

Nora frowned again as they started down the nearly empty street. “What do you mean?”

“Bitch is big on revenge. You cross her, and she’ll come after you.”

“You think she has more unfinished business,” Nora guessed, hearing the distant sounds of music drifting down from Bourbon Street as their footfalls slapped wetly on the sidewalk.

“And I think she’ll up the stakes. She’s got nothing to lose.”

“Who would she go after? Her family is dead. By tomorrow morning, her accounts will be cut off.”

“If I were her? I’d go after the business partner,” Darius said blithely.

“Max?” Nora said with alarm.

“He’s always gotten in her way. Knew what she was underneath it all.” Darius glanced back as a few drunken revelers spilled into the street behind them, laughing and cursing. “Nikki said you wondered who was supposed to start Charles’s boat… that you thought it would matter who was supposed to turn Charles’s body to chum.”

Nora nodded, reminded of that little detail she’d been meaning to check on. “Haven’t had much of a chance to follow up on that yet,” she admitted.

“It was Max.”

Nora stopped walking and Darius did the same, turning to face her in the light from a gas lamp. “Jesus,” she muttered. “I wondered… I was even going to call him tomorrow and ask him.” She paused. “What do you think she’ll do?”

“I think she’ll find a way to make him pay,” Darius said flatly. “Then I think she’ll come at you and Nikki. Maybe not in that order.”

The thought had already crossed Nora’s mind, and she suspected it had occurred to her partner as well. “Let her try,” Nora murmured. “Least we can stop playing hide and seek with her.”

“Just watch that pretty back of yours, sugar,” Darius told her.

“I always do, Darius,” Nora answered with a slight smile.

“Yeah?” Darius teased as he stepped out into the street and gave her a jaunty wave. “You sure as hell didn’t see Nikki Beaumont coming.” He winked at her before turning and disappearing into the night.

Nora snorted at just how true that was. With a shake of her head, she turned and headed back for the station. She’d put a few uniforms on Max’s house for the night before heading home to get some much-needed sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a big day.


	13. Chapter 13

Her condo felt lonely. Nikki closed the front door and leaned against it, staring into the darkened hallway. She’d never really wanted the whole messy business of living with someone. Simple and uncomplicated was how she preferred to live her life, and the thought of tangling her world up in someone else’s usually made her head hurt. Tonight, however, those convictions were conspicuously missing.

The thought of coming home to Nora, of cuddling with her on the couch as they watched a movie and ate takeout sounded so damned appealing Nikki felt tears of longing burn her eyes. She mentally scolded herself as she hung up her jacket and wandered toward her bedroom, but the craving for Nora’s presence wasn’t as easily shed as her coat.

Nora had told her that she loved her. Plenty of Nikki’s other lovers had said the same, but hearing those words from them had never made her feel like this. Whatever was between them was terrifyingly real and getting harder to fight day. Nikki had sworn to herself that she would never let this happen. Her father had loved her mother beyond measure and losing her had nearly destroyed him. She’d watched him struggle through his grief, unable to do anything to help. Even now, she sometimes could see an echo of that pain in his eyes when her father looked at her. The fact that she resembled her mother was both a blessing and a curse for him.

Falling in love with Nora opened her up to the same potential pain. She’d almost lost her partner already. What would happen if their feelings only grew and something horrible happened?

The mere thought seemed to tear a hole open in Nikki’s chest. She had to stop walking and lean against the wall until the sensation passed. In the moment, she realized running from her feelings was useless. She was already in over her head, already drowning in what she felt for her partner. Nikki closed her eyes and surrendered to the inevitable. At least she could be there by Nora’s side every day, to stand between her partner and whatever danger might come their way. These feelings, both sweet and alarming, gave Nikki new insight into her father. She ached for him anew, finally grasping the enormity of what he’d lost.

Nikki pulled her cell phone out of her pocket, suddenly needing to hear Nora’s voice. It was late, though, and she really hoped Nora was in her Saints jersey burrowed beneath her covers by now. With a sigh, she tucked the phone back into her pocket. Tomorrow would hopefully bring the changes in her relationship with Nora that they’d both been wanting. She could wait one more damn day. Maybe.

Nestor lifted his head as she entered the bedroom. He looked completely unapologetic for being sacked out in the very center of her bed. Nikki shook her head and decided she didn’t have it in her to scold him tonight. Instead, she slid across the mattress and curled around his warm body, absorbing the contact and giving in to the need to hold something. He wasn’t Nora, Nikki admitted wryly, but Nestor released a happy sigh and laid his head back down.

“Not a good day, boy,” Nikki murmured into his fur. “Although it ended kind of nice,” she added, smiling as she remembered Nora’s words before leaving the locker room once more. Warmth flushed through her, and when she caught her reflection in the dresser mirror, Nikki discovered she was grinning like an idiot.

The dog seemed to grumble in response and Nikki chuckled. “You’re such a good listener,” she teased, ruffling his scruff.

Her cell phone rang and Nikki fished it out of her pocket, glancing down at the caller ID and feeling her heartbeat skip. She licked her lips and answered. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Nora said softly, unaware of the shivers her voice gave the other woman. “Didn’t wake you, did I?”

Nikki eased up on her elbow as she shifted the phone to her other ear. “No. I was just saying hi to the dog.”

“Nestor is going to hate me for keeping you out so much,” Nora drawled.

“Give him a treat and he’ll forgive you in the time it takes to swallow it.”

Nora laughed faintly and Nikki felt gooseflesh rise on her skin. She closed her eyes, trying to forget how much she desperately wanted this woman, but powerless not to feel how much she loved her. “What’s up? Something happen with Sarah?” Nikki asked, trying to distract herself.

“Not exactly,” Nora confessed around a weary sigh. Nikki could hear her partner moving presumably around her apartment. “Darius caught me right after you left. He seems to think Sarah might try something stupid.”

“Stupid?” Nikki wondered. “More stupid than killing off her whole family, you mean?”

“Stupid as in coming after the cops that are trying to put her away,” Nora clarified, but Nikki could hear the smile in her voice.

“We do inspire the crazies, don’t we?” Nikki asked drolly. “This is only our second case together. Think this is going to become a habit?”

“I sincerely hope not.”

Nikki chuckled as she kicked off her shoes, letting them drop off the edge of the bed. “Darius really thinks she might try something?”

Nora sighed again and Nikki thought she heard faint purring. “Tell Reba I said hi.”

There was a pause on Nora’s end. “Good Lord. Is she that loud?”

Nikki laughed. “Pretty loud, sugar.” She couldn’t blame the cat, Nikki thought with a smirk. If Nora was petting her right now she didn’t doubt that she’d be purring, too.

Another pause followed. “I find it so weird that I actually like it when you call me that.”

“Weird?” Nikki prompted, her voice gentling. “Why weird?”

“Never really been into nicknames or terms of endearment,” Nora admitted. “Maybe it’s the way your accent creeps in when you say it.” She sounded a little embarrassed now.

Nikki smiled devilishly. “Did I mention my accent gets stronger when I’m having sex?” She waited for Nora’s flustered response, anticipating it eagerly, but Nora surprised her.

“Does that mean you’re vocal?” Nora teased back instead, her voice an octave lower.

“Guess that’ll depend on you, sugar,” Nikki managed when she’d recovered the breath that had caught in her throat.

“Nikki,” Nora murmured, a wealth of emotion in her voice.

Nikki closed her eyes, struggling to ignore her deepening arousal. “I know,” she whispered back. “Jesus.” She blew out a breath. “Let’s talk about Sarah and murder and… and anything that doesn’t involve me driving over there right now and making us both very late for work tomorrow.”

Silence followed and Nikki listened to Nestor snore softly while Reba continued to purr. “Nora?” she murmured when there was no response.

“I don’t think I’ve ever wanted someone as much as I want you,” Nora admitted abruptly.

Nikki swallowed hard. “Not helping,” she accused.

Nora released a bark of laughter. “Sorry. I just… Seems like after saying what I said in the locker room… my mouth just doesn’t know when to stay shut tonight.” She was quiet for a moment. “Anyway… I… uh… Darius… he’s worried.”

“You called to see if I locked my doors,” Nikki guessed with a soft smile.

“And set your alarm. And that you’ve got your gun close by. Yeah. Pretty much called to make sure you were doing all the things you probably do every night. Darius was also worried about Max.”

“Max?” Nikki asked, growing a little more serious.

“He was the one who was supposed to start Charles’s boat.”

“Oh my God.” Nikki sat up a little and ran a hand through her loose curls. “This bitch is crazy. You put some eyes on him?”

“Yeah. Called Dan and he authorized some protection. I figured we should check in with him first thing tomorrow.”

“Dan or Max?” Nikki joked.

“Max,” Nora playfully growled.

Nikki shivered again. “Please tell me you will growl like that when I finally get you in bed.”

“Nikki…” Nora whined pitifully. “You’re trying to make me snap, aren’t you?”

“Maybe. Is it working?” Nikki purred.

“Night, Nik,” Nora said in her smokiest voice, her tone almost like a caress up Nikki’s spine.

Pulling the phone down, Nikki saw that her partner had disconnected. “Damn. She so got the last laugh on that one.”

****

The police lights flickered quietly in the predawn hours. Nora eyed them with unease, wincing as their color splashed over the stately homes around her. She saw worried faces behind the police tape, neighbors trying to glean information from the patrol cops. The officers were tight-lipped, keeping their backs to the crime scene and their eyes on the growing crowd in front of them.

Nora flashed her badge and one uniformed cop gave her a nod and lifted an edge of the tape, letting her slip under it. Clipping the badge back on her hip, Nora climbed the steps to Maxwell Anderson’s home and stepped through the open doorway. The scent of strong coffee hit her as she followed the sound of voices and a woman crying. Entering the kitchen, Nora found Dan crouched next to the kitchen table. He was consoling a woman Nora assumed was Max’s wife. The captain saw her and cocked his head toward the back door in suggestion.

The smell of flowers and leaves was pungent when Nora emerged into the garden. She glanced around, squinting as the flashbulbs went off on the techs’ cameras as they documented the scene. Spying who she wanted to see standing near the lone lamppost, Nora sighed and approached warily. “Max,” she greeted gently.

He turned to her, his face looking older than she remembered. “Detective.” He managed a weak smile for her. “I thought you were overreacting when your patrol cars showed up last night. Silly me.”

Nora glanced at the garden, or at least what was left of it. Someone had snuck in during the middle of the night and butchered it. Max’s prized roses had all been stripped from their stems, their blooms tossed onto the cobblestones and ground into pulp. Once neatly trimmed bushes had been hacked to pieces. Nora was sure her nose detected the scent of motor oil on the breeze, and she guessed Sarah had poured the liquid all over Max’s grass. That wasn’t nearly as disturbing as the red she could see glistening in his fountain.

“They’re guessing it’s pig’s blood,” Max murmured when he followed Nora’s line of sight. “I was pretty terrified it was our dog’s until I found him snoring on the spare bed.”

“I’m sorry, Max.” Nora knew the apology would change nothing, but she truly meant it.

Max sighed. “You spend years building something… nurturing it… and in one night…” He swallowed and looked away, focusing his gaze on Nora. “I guess I’m lucky, though. She just came after my garden and not my family.”

“She wanted to hurt you,” Nora confirmed. She heard the familiar pattern of Nikki’s footfalls on the steps behind her, and Nora felt her soul steady. Seeing what Sarah had done, the violence the other woman had displayed, had jarred her. Sarah was mentally deteriorating if the evidence before her was any indication. Apparently the last remaining Wentworth was no longer concerned about getting her hands dirty.

“Hey,” Nikki greeted them, her hand sliding down Nora’s back in wordless comfort. She wished they could have ridden together to the scene, but Max’s house was only a short trolley ride from her condo. It had made no sense to make Nora go out of her way.

Nora watched her as Nikki’s brown eyes studied the carnage. The sky was beginning to lighten, making the remains of the garden even more visible and hard to take. Looking at her partner’s profile made the moment easier.

Nikki’s gaze wandered back to Nora’s and found her partner’s eyes already on her. She gave her a faint, sad smile before focusing on Max. “Did you hear anything? See anything?”

Max shook his head before sipping from his cooling cup of coffee. “I’m an early riser. I like to sit out here and watch the sun rise over the garden when I have time. It’s just so quiet and peaceful this time of day.” He shook his head and took another sip from his mug. “Won’t be doing that again for a while,” he muttered with a wry look for the detectives.

Putting a hand on his shoulder, Nora squeezed reassuringly. “We’ll get her.”

“I don’t have a doubt, Detective,” Max told her. “Your captain tells me that Sarah is sick… that’s she’s dying.”

“That’s true,” Nikki confirmed, letting her hand linger in the small of Nora’s back. Even through her leather jacket, Nikki could feel Nora’s heat, and it felt good in the damp chill of the morning.

“I want to feel sorry for her… but Charles, Marjorie… David.” Max’s voice broke at the end. “Some flowers seem like nothing when you think about what she’s done to them. I hope she burns in hell.”

“I’m pretty sure the place was made for people just like her,” Nikki said. She looked around the garden. “If you’d like some help with all of this…” she began, letting the offer linger.

Max glanced at her before looking back at the destruction. “Kind of you, Detective Beaumont, but I feel the need to rebuild it with my own hands. I began this garden when my children were too young to help. Perhaps now they can.”

“Sounds like a good plan, Max,” Nora told him. “We’ll call you when we get her.”

“I’m sure I’ll be hearing from you soon.”

“I sure as hell hope so,” Nora grumbled to her partner as they headed back up the steps, “but the officers watching this house are going to get an earful from me first.”

**** 

The car was beginning to warm as the sun slanted inside. Classic rock was on the radio, filling the silence between them as they headed back to the precinct. Nikki shifted her gaze off the passing scenery to focus on her partner, enjoying the way the sunlight brought out the sharp angles of Nora’s profile. It seemed she never got tired of looking at her.

“I thought that one rookie was going to wet his pants,” Nikki murmured, hoping to see the hint of a smile on Nora’s mouth.

Nora’s lips ticked upwards but a full smile never formed. “Idiots. Sarah walked in right under their noses.”

“It’s a big house,” Nikki reminded her. “The garden is hidden from view.”

“They should have put cars at the front and back,” Nora grumped. “They messed up.” She glanced at Nikki. “You know they did.”

“I know,” Nikki allowed. “Just kinda felt sorry for the kid. He reminded me a little of your brother.”

“Me too,” Nora confessed. “Probably why I was so damn hard on him.”

Nikki smiled at the thought before she cleared her throat, turning her attention away from the case and fully onto Nora. “So… tonight…” she began hesitantly.

Nora glanced at her again before forcing herself to pay attention to the road. “Tonight,” she answered, her voice huskier.

“We’re still on, huh?” Nikki asked carefully.

“Definitely,” Nora said with conviction. “Unless you…”

“I can’t wait,” Nikki interrupted, unwilling to let Nora think she was changing her mind, even for a second. “I don’t care if Sarah is behind bars or not.”

Nora was quiet a moment. “Me, either,” she finally breathed.

“I mean,” Nikki continued, “I’d prefer it if she was, but still…”

Finally smiling, Nora faced her partner fully as she rolled to a stop at a red light. “No more waiting,” Nora promised her, feeling butterflies erupt in the pit of her stomach, but eager anticipation flushed through her veins.

“No more waiting,” Nikki agreed, as the light turned green and the El Camino moved forward.

****

“Good morning, Detectives.”

Nora twitched in her chair at the precinct, her head jerking upwards from the paperwork she’d been filling out. Late morning sunlight poured in from the windows, catching Stephanie’s silver hair and making it shine. As much as Nora liked the dress designer, the sight of her still caused a sliver of terror to wash through her. “Stephanie.”

“Nora,” Stephanie replied sweetly. She set a bag of beignets on the desk along with two cups of coffee. “Thought you girls could use this. I heard about Max.”

Nikki bypassed the coffee and went straight for the pastries. It was nearly eleven and she still hadn’t eaten. “Yeah. He was pretty upset.”

“Fortunately, Sarah only had the wherewithal to hack on his bushes and not his family.” Stephanie slid a hip onto the corner of Nikki’s desk.

“Thanks,” Nora said as she picked up one of the coffees and took a sip. “Max was the last person in Sarah’s little plan. He never got what she thought he had coming to him. She couldn’t just let it go.”

“Is it true that Sarah is dying?” Stephanie asked Nikki.

“That got out, huh?” Nora asked dryly. She shook her head when Stephanie nodded. Bad enough she was having to deal with stupid rookies. Now apparently they had a leak or two in the department.

“It’s true,” Nikki admitted. “Even if we manage to track her down…”

“When, not if,” Nora corrected. Hopeful that if she avoided eye contact, Stephanie would just get the hint and leave, Nora dipped her head and returned her focus to her paperwork.

“When,” Nikki amended, “we track her down, she won’t do much jail time.”

Stephanie’s lips twisted as she studied the top of Nora’s head before she shared a private look of amusement with Nikki. “Any leads on finding her?”

“Every cop in the city is looking for her. The press is plastering her picture all over the news.” Nikki wiped her mouth and her hands with a napkin before reaching for the other coffee.

“So all the two of you can do is wait?” Stephanie asked innocently.

“Afraid so,” Nikki confirmed. “We’re tying up some loose ends. Nailing down some details with the will and Sarah’s financials. Charlie is taking another look at the bodies to make sure he didn’t miss anything. The usual drill.”

“I see.” Stephanie inched closer to Nora. “So if we moved up our photo shoot to say… tonight… that wouldn’t be a problem?”

Nora’s pen stop moving and she cautiously lifted her head to find Stephanie watching her knowingly. “Well… we…” She glanced beseechingly at Nikki.

“We sort of… had plans…” Nikki explained, feeling her face heat as Nora’s green eyes met her own. She had to swallow when a sudden influx of images cascaded through her thoughts, making her grow warmer by the moment.

“Plans,” Stephanie murmured, watching the two detectives with interest as they both blushed. “My, my.”

Nora cleared her throat. “Plans,” she confirmed, glancing away from Nikki with effort. “Guess the shoot will just have to wait.”

“Hmm. I’m afraid not,” Stephanie murmured with false sincerity. “Your captain has agreed to let you both off early tonight. Look on the bright side, Nora, you’ll get it over with and you should still have time for your… plans… later this evening.”

Nikki and Nora exchanged glances.

“I’m gonna kill him,” Nora grumbled under her breath.

“Not if I kill him first,” Nikki added.


	14. Chapter 14

A passing barge blew its horn and Nora nearly came out of her skin. She turned her head and glared at the boat, imagining some cocky asshole at the helm laughing at her. Fighting the temptation to flip him off, she slammed the door of her El Camino and took stock of her surroundings. This was the last place she wanted to be today.

Stephanie had chosen a location near the docks for this ridiculous shoot of hers. As Nora watched, several men and women were scurrying around a pair of prop patrol cars, setting up lights and wetting down the pavement to make it shine. Nora pursed her lips, once more marveling at the fact that she had ever agreed to do this. She blamed Nikki. If it wasn’t for the dizzying effect the other woman had on her, Nora was certain she would have not so politely told Stephanie just where she could stick her fancy dress and her matching high heel shoes.

The late afternoon sun warmed her shoulders as her eyes skimmed the parking lot, looking for any glimpse of the woman preoccupying her thoughts. They’d gone their separate ways after Stephanie had stopped by, scrambling to tie up as many loose ends as possible before dealing with the humiliation the evening was sure to bring.

There was still no sign of Sarah and that had Nora’s ego smarting. Money made it easier to hide, the detective admitted, but Sarah couldn’t hide forever. Sooner or later, Sarah would slither out of whatever hole she’d burrowed into, and Nora desperately wanted to be there to slap the cuffs on her when she did. She owed it to David, and his parents, to make sure Sarah spent whatever time she had left in a prison cell.

Sighing, Nora headed for the first person she saw actually standing still. The sooner they got started, the sooner this would be over and she could get back to doing her damn job. This night couldn’t end fast enough.

****

“You headed out?”

Nikki’s head bobbed up at the sound of Dan’s voice. She finished shutting down her computer before grabbing her purse and standing, her gaze making one last sweep of her desk to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything. “Yeah. Running a little late actually.”

“Sometime you’re going to tell me how you got Nora to agree to this.” Dan perched a hip on the corner of Nora’s desk, offering Nikki a charming smile.

Clearing her throat, Nikki wondered what Dan would think if she gave him the truth. It was damn tempting. She’d never felt the slightest bit territorial over someone before, and the experience was taking some getting used to. “Only if I want to get shot,” she rejoined, rewarded when Dan chuckled dryly. “I gotta get going or Nora really is going to kill me.”

“No problem. I’ll see you there in a little bit.”

Nikki paused, her jacket half on and half off. “I’m sorry?”

“Your friend Stephanie invited me. She said you two were fine with it.” Dan tilted his head as he read her reaction.

Nikki started to respond, only to bite her tongue. Stephanie had mentioned something about getting Dan there, about them not being the only ones getting their picture taken. Her lips quirked when she imagined what the designer had up her sleeve. “Right. Forgot. My head is all over the place today.”

“Even if she hadn’t invited me, there was no way I was going to miss this. I’d have watched with binoculars from a nearby rooftop if I’d had to.”

“Perv.” Nikki swatted his arm playfully and Dan laughed again. She’d never had such an easy relationship with a superior before, but there was a hint of tension creeping between them. Nikki didn’t have to guess at the source.

“The brass want me there, honestly,” Dan said a little more seriously as Nikki finished slipping on her coat. “They want to make sure we’re being well represented.”

That made sense, Nikki had to admit, even though she knew the real reason he was going. It was the same reason that had her wanting to wrap up their conversation so she could get out of there. “Wanna make sure we aren’t posing too provocatively?”

“Something like that.” Dan got to his feet. “I won’t hold you up any longer. I have to finish up a little paperwork, then I’ll head on over.”

“Check in with the uniforms before you come?” Nikki asked. “I know Nora will want the latest on Sarah Wentworth.”

“No problem.” Dan gave her a lazy smile. “See you in a bit, Detective.”

“You could pretend to not enjoy this so much,” Nikki grumbled good-naturally. She shouldered her purse and left to the sound of his knowing laugh following her out the door. She prayed that whatever Stephanie had in mind for her captain would be as good as she imagined.

****

She hated dresses.

Nora fluffed out the white fabric, imagining herself as a runaway bride that might gather up her skirts and head for the hills at any moment. She’d insisted on putting the damn thing on herself rather than having the contingent of stylists armed with overflowing pincushions coming at her like she was an acupuncture patient. If they were going to be near her with that many needles, they could wait until she had on a little protection. Like a flack jacket.

“Of all the stupid, idiotic, dumb…” She kept muttering as she turned to face herself in the mirror, only to have her voice trail off when she saw her reflection. “Holy shit.”

She looked… Nora swallowed and took a hesitant step closer, letting her hands slowly run down the form fitting sides and over her hips. If Nikki looked even half as good as she did, Nora knew she was in trouble. On the flip side… Nora took a breath, imagining Nikki’s reaction to seeing her in a designer dress that hugged her in all the right places. A little pleased smirk lifted her lips. 

“Okay, Stephanie,” Nora grumbled to the absent fashion designer. “You definitely know your stuff.” She turned away from the mirror to open the door, but jumped back when two women and one man gay enough to nearly qualify for the fairer sex rushed in, their hands suddenly everywhere. “Careful,” Nora ordered, “unless you want me to charge you with something.”

“Abrasive as ever,” Stephanie clucked as she pushed open the partially closed door. She paused when she saw the detective, taking a moment to simply admire her. “My goodness,” she breathed. “I knew you’d look stunning, but you exceeded my expectations.” She chuckled when she saw the flush redden Nora’s shoulders and neck. “I imagine you hear the worst language out on the streets every day, but it’s a compliment that makes you blush.”

Nora rolled her eyes. “Is Nikki here yet?”

“She just arrived. She’s in her fitting now.”

“Is that what you call this? A fitting? Ouch!” Nora swatted a woman’s hand that had just stuck her with a pin. “That’s assault.”

“Nora, honey,” Stephanie murmured. She came closer and took both of the detective’s hands into her own. “Calm down. You’re making them nervous, and they’re armed.”

Nora snorted in slight amusement. “You know I hate this.”

“I know, but it will be over in a few hours. And just think, soon you can see Nikki in her dress.” Stephanie winked.

If Stephanie hadn’t interfered with their plans, Nora thought sourly, she would have seen Nikki in a lot less tonight. Still, the woman had a point. The thought of Nikki dressed to the nines was the only thing keeping Nora from bolting. “I should be out looking for Sarah Wentworth,” she muttered.

“Half of the N.O.P.D. is doing that, sweetheart. Like a bad penny, you know that one will turn up.” 

“It’s my job, Stephanie. I’m not supposed to play dress up.”

“Well tonight you are,” the designer told her with a gentle smile. “So try to relax and enjoy it.”

“There is not enough liquor in New Orleans to make me relax and enjoy this.”

Stephanie laughed and Nora found it next to impossible to stay angry with a woman with a laugh like that. She rolled her eyes again but submitted to being poked, tucked, and hemmed. “I’m never going to live this down,” she muttered.

“Trust me, Nora,” Stephanie promised. “I think you’re going to wind up enjoying yourself before the night is over… no alcohol required.”

Nora’s long-suffering sigh followed the designer out the door.

****

“Is she here yet?” Nikki asked when Stephanie poked her head into the dressing room.

Stephanie smiled. “She is indeed.”

“Hating every second of it, huh?” Nikki asked knowingly, but she was grinning from ear to ear as she slipped out of her top. She was used to designer boutiques and being tended to by a contingent of women with measuring tape and pins. She almost didn’t notice the three of them there hovering, waiting for her to get half-naked so they could get to work.

“I think Detective Delaney doth protest too much.” Stephanie stepped inside and shut the door, leaning against it as Nikki finished stripping down to the essentials and letting the staff do what they did best.

Nikki’s smile remained firmly in place. “I’d pay good money to watch her go through this.”

“She’s threatening to charge everyone with something.”

A bark of laughter was Stephanie’s reply and she slowly came closer as Nikki slid the dress over her head, letting the silk spill down her skin like water. It hugged her curves to perfection, and Stephanie doubted much altering would be necessary. “Stunning,” she murmured.

“You do know your stuff,” Nikki told her when her head emerged once more. She cast a quick glance at the mirror, her eyebrows hiking in appreciation. “Wow. Love this color.”

“I imagine Nora will as well,” Stephanie’s voice was a little more serious now.

Nikki’s gaze shifted on to Stephanie again. She thought about denying the nature of her relationship with Nora, but she Stephanie was already clearly on to them. Nikki shrugged, mindful of the women tucking the dress here and there with pins. “I guess we’ll see,” she murmured, but she was wearing a pleased but bashful smile.

“I know you’re on a case, Nikki. I appreciate you taking the time to be here.”

Sighing, Nikki shrugged again. “I needed the break, honestly. Give my mind something else to think about for a little bit.”

“A chance to gain some perspective,” Stephanie added.

“Yeah. We really haven’t had a chance to slow down and catch our breaths. Let things simmer.” Nikki gestured to her head with a vague wave of her hand.

“Is that how Nora works?”

“It’s how I work,” Nikki admitted. “Sometimes it’s good to take a step back and see the big picture. Besides, half the department is looking for Sarah. She’s not getting out of the city tonight.”

Stephanie bit her lip, regarding Nikki intently for a long moment. “Ladies, could you give us just a minute?”

A few startled looks passed among them, but the women did as they were asked, leaving the room and Nikki and Stephanie alone.

“What is it?” Nikki asked once the door closed. She frowned when Stephanie gently took her hands.

“Sweetheart, I know your father and I were only an item for a short time, and that what was between us was over a long time ago.”

“Stephanie….” Nikki began uncertainly, only to hold her piece when Stephanie held up a hand.

“But I adore you like a daughter and I just…” Stephanie paused, swallowing nervously. “I have never seen you look at anyone like you look at Nora.”

Breathing in slowly, Nikki debated on her response. She was touched by Stephanie’s concern, but the moment made her feel her mother’s absence suddenly and keenly. “I…” she began, not sure what she was going to say.

“I know I’ve been teasing you both… encouraging you even… I just…” Stephanie eyed her worriedly. “You’re partners, Nikki, and I just want you to be sure…”

“I’m sure,” Nikki said firmly, startling them both with the intensity of her response. “I don’t know what is going to happen. It may blow up in my face, but I have to try, Stephanie. It’s worth the risk.”

“You’re in love with her,” Stephanie murmured, her voice holding a hint of wonder.

Nikki swallowed, accepting the truth of that completely. “I’m in love with her,” she admitted, feeling dizzy as the words passed her lips. “And I’m scared, and excited, and…”

“And it makes you glow,” Stephanie told her, her fingers reaching up to gently touch Nikki’s cheek. “Does she feel the same way?”

Nodding mutely, Nikki took another shaky breath.

“I interrupted some plans tonight, didn’t I?” Stephanie’s expression grew cheeky. “I wondered what was up with that look you two exchanged at the precinct.”

“You have the worst timing.”

The designer laughed and drew Nikki into a quick hug. “I’m so happy for you, sweetheart. And if you ever need a friendly ear…”

“I know where to find you.” Nikki smiled, touched at Stephanie’s concern. “But as for my plans tonight… you can make it up to me a little if you’re doing what I think you’re doing with my boss.”

Stephanie smiled devilishly. “Such a shame our male model fell ill tonight. I think your captain might be just about his size, however.”

“Thank God you’re on the right side of the law, sugar. You’d be a criminal mastermind for sure.”

****

The hook wouldn’t close, but Nora would be damned if she asked anyone to help her at this point. Her dressing room was finally empty once more, and she was taking the blessed silence as a chance to gird herself for what she was about to do.

When warm fingers suddenly skimmed over the back of her neck, Nora’s breath caught in surprise.

“Let me,” Nikki’s voice purred, her breath warm on Nora’s skin as she took the ends of the necklace and fastened them easily.

Nora glanced at the mirror, seeing Nikki’s reflection behind her, those dark eye gazing at her intently. “Hey,” she greeted, disappointed when Nikki’s touch drifted away.

Nikki’s gaze was heated as it traveled slowly up Nora’s mirror image. “Damn,” she whispered when their eyes met again. “I knew you would look beautiful but…” She swallowed, feeling almost faint in reaction to the vision Nora made before her.

“So I don’t look like an idiot?” Nora joked faintly. She chuckled when Nikki’s eyes widened dramatically. Slowly she turned, bracing herself for what she would see, but it still wasn’t enough to stop her breath from hitching again at the sight of her partner. “As if this night weren’t cruel enough,” she whispered.

“You like it?” Nikki asked, letting her hands drift down her stomach, savoring the way Nora’s eyes tracked the movement. She could feel the temperature rise between them and the tension thicken to an almost painful degree. The thought of grabbing Nora and running off with her crossed her mind, but she owed Stephanie an hour in front of the camera. It was the least she could do. 

Nora could only nod, words failing her. “My mother once said,” she finally began, her voice husky, “that the sign of a good dress is how much someone wants to rip it off you.”

Nikki came closer, knowing she was tempting fate and not really caring. Her fingers caressing the delicate pendant around Nora’s neck, she studied it in the pale light before lifting her gaze to meet Nora’s at temptingly close range. The look in her partner’s eyes scalded her, made her tremble. She’d never seen so much hunger in Nora’s eyes. “Do want to rip this dress off of me, Detective?”

“Hell yes,” Nora gasped, her hands slipping over silk to rest on Nikki’s hips. A quick tug had their bodies connecting. A breath more and their lips would have met.

“Nora?” 

The detective leapt away from her partner as if she’d been burned, managing to have a few feet between her and Nikki just as Dan rounded the corner and found them both.

“Wow,” he breathed when he saw them, oblivious to what he’d just interrupted or the mutual blushes dotting their cheeks. “You both clean up nice.”

“Thanks,” Nikki got out, recovering enough to find her voice. “I was coming…” She cleared her throat self-consciously, her thoughts derailing over her poor choice of words. “I was coming to bring Nora to the shoot. They’re ready.”

“Great,” Nora croaked out, unable to look at either of them. “That’s… yeah.” She took a quick, short breath before looking at Dan, finding his appreciative gaze already on her. Nora nodded. “Yeah, this night is a special kind of hell.”

Dan chuckled, not realizing the source of the joke. “I don’t know. I think I’m going to enjoy it.”

“You came!” Stephanie said with delight as she joined them in the cramped space. “Thank goodness, Captain. I could really use your help.”

Nora watched as Nikki bit her lip to hide a smile. She lifted an eyebrow in silent question and Nikki winked at her. Now suspicious, Nora turned her attention back on Dan and the designer.

“Of course. What do you need?” Dan asked clueless.

Stephanie took his hand. “Right this way. You are my hero of the night. You’re completely saving the day.”

Dan followed willingly, glancing back at his detectives and shrugging.

Nikki looked at her partner. “Shall we get this over?”

“What was that all about?” Nora asked.

“Stephanie is making this up to us… just a little.” Nikki threaded her arm through Nora’s and smiled at her. “Be a good girl tonight, and I just might let you rip this dress off of me tomorrow.”

“Bribery? Really?” But Nora grinned a little in return as they made their way from the makeshift dressing rooms toward the docks outside.

“Do you need more incentive?”

Nora looked at her again, taking her time to trail her gaze up Nikki’s body, feeling the tension coiling in the arm wrapped around her own. “Bribery works,” she admitted as they stepped out into the night and the blinding glare of spotlights, the smell of wet asphalt and wood assaulting their senses.

****

Her accounts were frozen. Her homes were under surveillance. Sarah felt like there was a cop waiting for her at every corner. Those two detectives were smarter than she had given them credit for. They knew how to tighten the noose, but the only problem was that she was a dead woman already. Two of New Orleans’ so-called finest weren’t going to keep her from what was hers.

She’d made plans in case things had gone bad, but Sarah disgustingly admitted things were much worse than she had anticipated. Once more, her mind went over everything, chewing on her mistakes and making her stomach sour at the thought of them. She knew she should leave the city, maybe even the damn country, but that felt too much like losing. And Sarah hated to lose.

No. Those two bitches weren’t going to stand in her way. She’d walked right under their protective detail and had found her fun in Max’s precious garden. Sarah vowed to discover a way around them to get to what was hers, ready to finally get her hands dirty, if necessary.

Her brother had been so easy to manipulate in his drug-induced stupor. All she had to do was whisper in his ear, then sit back and watch as he murdered their parents, the fool having no clue what he was doing. Once or twice, their parents’ cries had seemed to be penetrating… weaseling past her suggestions and starting to break through the fog of euphoria. She had just given him more of the drugs he craved, and David had given her everything she’d dreamed of for years.

Now they were all gone. Everyone who had been in her way. Except those two damn cops.

The pre-paid phone she’d purchased hours earlier beeped softly in her hand, and she read the incoming text with interest. Delaney and Beaumont weren’t the only ones with eyes and ears on the street, and Sarah smiled in puzzled surprise at the content of the message.

“A photo shoot,” she drawled, amused despite everything. “Well that’s… unexpected.” 

Settling back against a park bench as she looked out over the moonlit river, Sarah let her mind wander, delighting in the cruel possibilities.


	15. Chapter 15

It was warm and musty as Stephanie led Dan down a short, brick hallway. He swiped away a trickle of sweat from his brow in annoyance but gamely kept pace. There wasn’t any way in hell he would miss this night. Nora’s idea of getting dressed up was to put on a pair of kakis, and the thought of her posing for a camera made him want to laugh every time he thought about it. He wasn’t sure what he was looking forward to the most: Nora dressed to the nines or watching her squirm.

His former partner had no idea how attractive she was. She’d rebuffed every one of his advances over the years, never taking him seriously. He supposed he could understand why, but if she had ever taken him up on a single date, he would have proven her wrong. His feelings for her were risky considering their superior and subordinate status, and so far he’d refrained from making any major moves, but the temptation was always there.

He followed Stephanie around a corner, entering a small space converted into a makeshift dressing room. Dan looked about curiously, continuing to smile at the contingent of people he found standing there.

“Put this on.”

His smile faltered as a cellophane covered tuxedo was thrust into his hands. Dan could only stare at it, his brain too confused to process exactly what Stephanie was implying. “I’m sorry?”

Stephanie gave him a tight grin as her slew of attendants waited patiently with their pincushions, a predatory gleam in their eyes. “My male model didn’t show. I’m afraid I’m pressing you into service.”

His eyes went wide as his gaze dropped once more to the suit in his hands.

“You don’t mind, do you?” Stephanie continued, her tone sweet as honey. “I mean, it’s good PR, right?”

For a moment, Dan’s mouth opened and closed as he searched for a valid excuse, wondering if Nikki or Nora had told the designer he’d used the same reasoning on them. He’d suspected he was going to get some bad karma for his actions, he just hadn’t expected it so quickly. “It’s just… I mean I…”

“Perfect.” Stephanie fisted her hand in his t-shirt and yanked him down for a quick kiss on his stubble-covered cheek. “You’re a lifesaver.” She let him go, giving the badge on his hip a little flick with one finger before she pivoted and left the room, deserting Dan to face the cluster of attendants alone.

“Wait…” Dan pressed his lips together as the door closed resolutely behind her. He swallowed, feeling his dignity about to take a bruising of his own making. Slowly, he turned back to the attendants.

“Do you dress to the left or right?” one young man asked with a slow, wicked smile.

Dan cleared his throat. “Paybacks are a bitch, my man,” he grumbled, yielding to his fate. Maybe he could at least dress to impress his former partner, he decided, hoping he could still salvage something from this.

“I’m never going to live this down,” he muttered as his fingers gripped the edge of his t-shirt and tugged upward.

****

“I’m never going to live this down.”

Nikki smiled, unabashedly letting her gaze drift down Nora’s exposed back and shoulders. Her partner had beautiful skin, and Nikki was tempted to let her fingers trace the line of Nora’s spine all the way down to the barest hint of the tattoo that peered invitingly over white silk. She took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of Nora’s shampoo and the spicy soap she liked to use. The sun was setting, burnishing Nora’s back in golden tones, and Nikki wondered if a sunrise would look just as beautiful on Nora’s bare skin. She could hardly wait to find out.

“Is it my imagination or are you leering back there?” Nora asked suddenly.

Nikki’s head snapped up. “Huh?”

Nora rolled her eyes, but a small, pleased smirk graced her lips. “That’s what I thought.”

Squinting into the powerful lights that ringed them, Nikki scratched the tip of her nose self-consciously. Heat was infusing her cheeks, and it had nothing to do with the sunset. “You look beautiful. I think it would be a crime if I didn’t leer.”

Turning slightly, Nora glanced back at Nikki, her own gaze traveling as slowly as she dared over her partner’s trim body. She had always admired the female form, but she’d never thought about what it would be like to explore a woman’s body until she met Nikki. A part of her was terrified she would chicken out when the time came, the rest of her couldn’t wait for the rush. She finally met Nikki’s gaze squarely.

“Now who is leering?” Nikki teased, pleased with Nora’s reaction.

“Seems only fair that there be equal leering in this relationship.” Nora cleared her throat, feeling her body warming in the late afternoon heat. She knew she should be anywhere but where she was, trying to track down Sarah Wentworth was the first that came to mind, but she wished she could be somewhere alone and private, peeling that dress off her partner.

Nikki’s smile strengthened. The word ‘relationship’ still made her stomach do somersaults but she was starting to like the sensation. “Dare you to give the photographer a real Kodak moment.”

Nora shook her head and looked forward again with effort, wincing at the intensity of the lights. She felt Nikki step closer, her hand brushing against Nora’s bare back. She closed her eyes and swallowed, drawing in a fortifying breath. “Behave,” she whispered.

“If you knew how much I really don’t wanna do that, sugar…” Nikki gave into temptation and let her fingers quickly trace the top of Nora’s tattoo.

Nora yelped and jumped as if Nikki had pinched her.

Helpless not to laugh, Nikki only chuckled harder as Nora turned and swatted her on the arm.

“Not helping!” Nora accused. She was blushing a brilliant red and the photography crew shared a smile over their antics, oblivious to the underlying heat between them. “You’re paying for that later.”

“Promise?” Nikki purred.

Nora needed another fortifying breath at the thought. “Why can’t we get this started already?”

Shaking her head, Nikki glanced around, noting that they weren’t the only ones who seemed to be waiting. “My guess? Waiting on the golden hour.”

“Golden hour?”

“The perfect light,” Nikki explained.

“You would know what that is.”

Smiling, Nikki poked Nora in the back once more, but this touch was more playful than provocative. “You see Stephanie?” she asked when she couldn’t find the dress designer.

“I don’t see a damn thing with all these lights. I’m probably going to go blind.” Nora smirked again when she got another light poke in the back. “Seriously, I feel like a perp in a line-up. Everyone can see me but I can’t see them.” She sighed, studying the vague shapes of the people standing around. “Now that you mention it, I don’t think I see Dan, either.”

“Maybe Stephanie got her cougar claws in him,” Nikki suggested with a wicked grin.

“Oh lord. I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t survive.”

Nikki snorted. “Least I wouldn’t have to deal with him flirting with you anymore.”

One of Nora’s eyebrows lifted at the faintest trace of ice in Nikki’s tone. “Does that bother you?” She finally turned and faced her partner fully, squinting into the setting sun.

Caught, Nikki cleared her throat. “Well… I mean, I know we haven’t actually…” She blew out a breath, feeling strangely childish. “Yeah, it bothers me.” Glaring as Nora smiled, Nikki narrowed her eyes. “Don’t look so pleased with yourself.”

“More like flattered,” Nora admitted sincerely. “I’ve told you, all the time I was partnered with Dan I never seriously considered crossing the line with him. Trust me. You have nothing to worry about.”

“I still feel a strange urge to punch him… or knee him in the…” Nikki lapsed into silence as Nora held up a hand. “I’m new at this,” she grumbled.

“New at what?”

“I think you know,” Nikki said after a moment, feeling a little lightheaded. “You aren’t the only one having a new experience here.”

Compelled, Nora took a slow step forward, forgetting about the people watching behind her. She wanted to kiss Nikki so badly she wasn’t sure she cared who saw her do it. When Nikki realized her intent, her partner’s eyes darkened and Nora felt the last of her willpower vanish.

“All right. Shall we get started?” Stephanie called, her voice like a set of verbal brakes for the pair.

“Now she shows up.” Nora looked less than pleased before turning back around. “Aw. C’mon,” she groused as hair and makeup people came rushing at them one more time.

****

Sarah watched through her binoculars, curious about the closeness between the two detectives. She wished she’d brought a camera, sensing she was witnessing something that was a secret Delaney and Beaumont would want to keep to themselves. Sarah couldn’t read lips, but the look in the detectives’ eyes spoke volumes.

As she spied on the pair, Nikki traced the edge of Nora’s tattoo with a slow, teasing touch. Sarah’s mouth pursed into a tight line. The contact had been playful, but there had been an air of sensuality to it that Sarah could sense even at this distance.

“Well, well,” she murmured as she relaxed and leaned back against the hood of a car. She was perched on the upper level of a parking garage, the temptation to investigate the photo shoot too intense to ignore. Sarah wondered what the press would make of the detectives posing for a fashion shoot rather than searching for a killer. Maybe the right tip to the right reporter could wipe her own picture off the front page of the paper and replace it with a photo of the two detectives dogging her instead.

Recalling the photographs Delaney and Beaumont had gleefully shared of her in a compromising position, Sarah began to wonder if returning the favor might prove satisfactory. What she’d just seen was lust, pure and simple, and if the pair hadn’t acted on it yet, they soon would.

Perhaps there was a way to get them off her back after all. Surely the New Orleans Police Department would frown on such fraternization between partners.

“The best defense is a good offence,” she mused aloud as she slipped her cell phone from her pocket.

Two calls. That’s all she needed to make to bring these detectives down.

Sarah was realistic enough to admit she might not walk away with all the money and toys like she’d planned, but she would still walk away the winner. Those bitch detectives were about to find out first hand what happened to people who crossed her.

****

Nora had thought the lights were bad, but they had nothing on the camera flash. She wondered how models did this all the time, how they kept their eyes open with so many light sources stabbing them in the retinas. With each shot, she saw a rainbow of spots appear in her vision, and Nora was starting to suspect she had a workers’ comp claim in the making.

It was only Nikki’s presence that kept her from stomping off the set. Her partner had managed to ease most of her nerves, and Nora was finally getting the hang of how to pose accordingly. Thankfully, Stephanie hadn’t expected them to smile like people in a toothpaste commercial. She’d wanted serious women for her ads, and apparently whatever expression Nora was wearing was satisfactory by the way Stephanie cooed over the images popping up on a nearby laptop.

The whole thing was just so absurd.

A warm hand on her back made her twitch, but then some of the tension bled from her frame as Nikki gently traced circles on her skin with her thumb. Stephanie’s excitement seemed to grow, and Nora wondered what kinds of pictures they were making.

“You’re doing fine,” Nikki promised.

“I look like an idiot.”

The photographer had them change up their positions, and Nikki unfortunately had to lose contact with the other woman. “You realize that Stephanie wants us to look like badass cops, right?”

“We’re wearing evening gowns.”

“So you’re only badass in jeans and a badge?”

Nora shot Nikki a cross look over her shoulder and got grief from the photographer for it.

“Ladies, focus forward please,” he sniped.

The temptation to make him eat his camera had Nora scowling at him.

“That’s perfect!” The shutter fired fast and furious on his camera as he stepped closer, going in for a tighter shot of the gorgeous pair.

Nikki giggled, only imagining what was going through her partner’s mind. “Stare him down like a perp. I think he likes that.”

“Nice,” the photographer crooned. “You can arrest me anytime, officer.”

“That’s it.” Nora started forward only to have Nikki wrap an arm around her waist and draw her back. Apparently the photographer liked that image as well as the flash on his camera practically turned into a strobe light.

“Good thing neither of us is epileptic,” Nikki grumbled, giving Nora her first hint that the taller woman wasn’t exactly thrilled with their arrangement, either.

“You look wonderful, girls,” Stephanie called out from behind the lights.

“Wonderful,” Nora repeated dubiously as she leaned back into Nikki’s heat, trying to maintain a little dignity. “I probably look like I’m about to commit murder.”

“You aren’t the only one, sugar.”

“All right. Let’s take five minutes.” The photographer handed his camera off to someone and went off to smoke a cigarette.

Nora turned. “I say we run for it.”

Nikki chuckled, suspecting her partner wasn’t remotely joking. “It won’t be much longer.”

Shaking her head, Nora had made up her mind. “I’m going to get a migraine if he keeps firing that thing in my face.”

“Stay just a little longer for Stephanie,” Nikki pleaded.

“Why?” Nora reached down and yanked off her heels, making her even shorter than her partner than usual. “They’ve got their damn pictures.” She felt her nostrils flare as Nikki abruptly stepped closer, lowering her head to whisper something in her ear.

Purring a promise of suitable repayment to her partner in great detail, Nikki could feel Nora’s resistance crumbling with disgusting ease. Green eyes lifted to meet her own when she was done, and there was no hiding the desire in them. Nikki smiled as she heard Nora swallow.

Her imagination in overdrive, Nora stared at her partner, trying to think of a damn thing to say in response to what Nikki had just promised to do to her. “You…” Nora swallowed again, her tongue feeling thick and useless as she struggled to breathe. “That’s mean.”

Nikki smiled. “It would be if I had no intention of following through, and I promise, sugar, I’m going to follow through and more.”

Nora stared at her. Having no experience with a woman in bed, she had imagined often enough what they might do to each other, but what Nikki had just whispered was intimately descriptive. Her body burned at the suggestion, and it was clear by the look in Nikki’s eyes that she had every intention on delivering.

“Would that be okay?” Nikki watched her, worried she’d freaked the other woman out.

There was no chance to reply as Stephanie came up to them and grabbed their hands. “You have to see these pictures.”

Shaken and aroused, Nora dug her heels in, feeling too off-balance to move. “I’m never looking at those pictures,” she murmured, sounding as breathless as she felt. “You two go ahead.”

“Nora…” Nikki looked concerned.

“I’m not taking no for an answer. Detective.” Stephanie waited until Nora’s attention was on her. “I really think it will make this easier if you see what we’re trying to achieve.”

Sighing, Nora rolled her eyes. “Fine.” She met Nikki’s gaze again. “I’m going to hold you to that promise.”

Tension eased from Nikki’s shoulders and she smiled. “Can’t wait to deliver.”

Stephanie looked from one woman to the other, sensing the current between them. “If you both could get your minds out of the bedroom for a moment…”

Nora’s head snapped around. “I… You… Just show me the damn pictures.”

****

Planting the cameras was easy.

When his client had called, offering him twice his going rate if he got her some pictures to use as leverage against a couple of cops, he’d hesitated. Making enemies of the police was never a good idea, but in the end, the money had been too good to pass up. While the security on Nora Delaney’s apartment had been top notch, he’d been able to bypass it with his skills. Now nearly every room in the detective’s apartment was under surveillance. Sarah Wentworth wanted compromising pictures of Delaney and he was going to make sure she got them.

Satisfied with his work and the speed in which he’d completed it, he slipped out the front door and reengaged her locks. One apartment down, one to go.

****

“Wow.”

Nikki could only stare at the pictures of Nora on Stephanie’s laptop, ignoring her own image completely. “Now I see why the photographer was getting all hot and bothered.” She grunted when Nora elbowed her less than gently in the stomach. “Nora, come on. You look amazing.”

Nora was getting tired of blushing. She brushed a loose tendril of hair away from her forehead as she took in the shots Stephanie was showing them. Reluctantly, she had to admit they were good photographs. The setting sun, the glistening pier, and the polished squad cars… it all looked surreal, but the shots themselves were vivid and intense. There was a grittiness to them that appealed to her, but somehow the look still captured the flavor of the city as well. Stephanie wasn’t making them look like Barbie dolls. She and Nikki looked like strong, capable women.

“Do you see it now, Detective?” Stephanie asked. “What I was going for?”

Hating to admit she was wrong but knowing she was, Nora straightened. “Okay… I might have sold you a little short.”

“That’s not a knock about my height, is it?”

Green eyes widened fractionally in alarm only to roll again as Stephanie chuckled and gave her a brief hug. “You’re a devious woman.”

“You don’t know the half of it,” Stephanie said, dipping her head toward the building behind them.

Nikki and Nora turned, both of them knocked speechless by the sight that greeted them. Walking reluctantly toward them was Dan. He was tugging on his collar, looking incredibly uncomfortable as the crew stopped and watched him walk by in his tuxedo.

A low whistle escaped Nikki’s lips and she was elbowed again for her trouble. “Looking good,” she called to him.

Dan smiled nervously and ran his fingers over his crisp white collar again. “Thanks,” he drawled, taking them both in against the backdrop of the setting sun. “Looks like I get to be the third wheel tonight.”

Nora turned her head and looked at Stephanie. The designer hiked an eyebrow in silent question and Nora couldn’t help but grin. “It’s a piece of cake,” she promised her former partner, enjoying his discomfort and feeling her own vanish. “Just stand there and look pretty.” 

“I don’t know about this.” Dan fiddled with one of his silver cufflinks. “Maybe this isn’t such a…” He looked up when Nikki threaded one of her arms through his, and a moment later, Nora did the same on his other side.

“Come on, Dan. It’s good PR.” Maybe this night wasn’t going to be so bad after all, Nora mused, sharing a conspiratorial wink with Nikki as they guided him in front of the lights.

****

Hours later, the sun was nothing but a memory. They could still see the lights from the shoot even thought they were a block away, but darkness was far more pervasive than light. Nora shook her head as they waited on the corner for the taxi that would take Nikki home. Her mind was spinning over the promise Nikki had whispered earlier, and Nora was painfully tempted to take her partner back to her place to collect, but Nikki had called the cab as soon as they’d walked off the set. Nora suspected her partner was trying to be good, to wait until their postponed date before she pushed things to the next level. She shot Nikki a look out of the corner of her eye, watching as the taller woman relaxed and cooled off after the lights had baked them for hours.

“I think Stephanie created a monster.” Nora chose the safest topic she could find, needing to fill the silence between them.

Nikki smiled, her gaze sleepy. “Dan did seem to take to modeling like a duck to water after he got over his nerves.”

“Was there ever any doubt?”

Chuckling, Nikki leaned back against a light pole, sighing in relief as the night air stirred her hair. They’d both changed back into street clothes, and she savored their easy comfort as she took Nora in under the street lamp. “Admit it. In the end, you had a little fun.”

“I admit nothing.” Nora kept her gaze on the sidewalk, but Nikki saw the brief flash of a smile. 

Nikki stared at Nora’s profile, all too aware of the heat between them. She loved those little smiles, and knowing Nora had gone through with the rest of the evening just for her meant more to Nikki than her partner would ever know. Realizing they were completely alone and knowing the cab was only minutes away, Nikki caught one of Nora’s hands and tugged her closer, drawing her in against her body.

“Nikki,” Nora warned only to be silenced by her partner’s hot mouth against her own.

They kissed slowly, but Nikki gave her hands permission to wander, letting them slip beneath the thin fabric of Nora’s shirt and slide teasingly up the other woman’s back. Nora gasped into her mouth and Nikki pressed her advantage, deepening the kiss and holding her closer.

It felt like the most real thing either of them had ever known.

The sound of tires over cobblestone had them drawing reluctantly apart minutes later. Nikki wanted to ask Nora to come home with her so she could deliver on her earlier promise, but she found her courage fleeing as their eyes met.

“You okay?” Nora whispered as she spied the cab slowing to a stop.

“Right as rain.” Nikki reached up, letting her fingers trace Nora’s cheek. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Swallowing at the touch, Nora nodded. “Tomorrow,” she agreed. She closed her eyes as Nikki kissed her on the cheek, breathing her partner in as she struggled to find the words to convince her to stay.

In the end, they wouldn’t come, and Nikki slipped inside the cab with a wink. The door closed and the cab pulled away, leaving Nora alone in the darkness.

Or so she thought.

She didn’t see the man in the shadows, smiling as he gripped his camera, as she slipped into her El Camino and headed for home.


	16. Chapter 16

The smell of the coming rain drifted in through Nora’s open car door window. She took a deep breath of it, her hands tightening on the wheel as she waited impatiently for one of the St. Charles sidecars to roll by. Tourists gawked from the open windows at the Garden District around them, what little they could see of it in the street lamps and the slowly-disappearing moonlight.

Nora closed her eyes. She could still feel Nikki’s hand on her back, the heat of those long fingers on her bare skin. When Nikki had leaned in close and whispered in her ear, Nora’s body had reacted swift and strong. She’d never been ruled by physical desires before, and her need for Nikki was as frightening as it was undeniable. Even now, hours later, she was still shaky and keyed up to a distracted degree.

Nikki had been very… explicit… with her whispered promises. They had talked about having sex, but they’d never really talked about what that would entail. She swallowed, her mind painting a very detailed picture of what they could be doing right now.

A honk from behind alerted Nora that her mind had drifted, and she reluctantly turned her attention away from thoughts of her partner to focus on the street.

Live music drifted to her on the strengthening wind as she finally found a good parking spot along Dauphine. It would be a brisk five-minute walk to her apartment from there, but the humidity of the day was giving way to the coming storm. Assuming she beat the rain, it would be a pleasant stroll. Just the thing she needed to cool the hell down.

Rolling up her windows, Nora locked her door and stepped out onto the uneven sidewalk. She raked a hand through her hair, pushing it out of her eyes as she quickly surveyed her surroundings. Her cop instincts went bone deep, perhaps even as deep as her DNA given her family history. Satisfied everything was as it should be, her gaze landed on the keys in her hand. It would be so easy to climb back in her car and drive to Nikki’s place.

Fisting her hand around her keys, Nora let the jagged edges dig into her palm, the pain clearing her thoughts just enough to give her the strength to walk away from her car and head for home. Lightning flashed in the distance as she made her way under the trees and over the cracked sidewalk, her thoughts stubbornly returning to Nikki. Nora could still remember the heat and taste of her partner as they’d kissed in the lamplight only an hour ago. Nora liked being in control, but Nikki was very adept at making her lose it.

Frowning, Nora mulled over the moment once more, wondering what had changed Nikki’s mind. She had thought if either of them would get cold feet before their first time, it would be her. The way Nikki had talked during the photo shoot had led Nora to believe the night would end very differently than it had, but Nikki had all but fled at the end of the night, leaving Nora to drive home very alone, and very turned on.

“Not nice, Beaumont. Gonna get you back for that at some point.”

Nora opened the back gate and stepped inside the courtyard, pausing for a moment when she caught a whiff of unfamiliar cologne. Her nose wrinkled in response, the cloying scent cheap and pungent. Glancing around for the source, Nora only heard the trickle of the fountain and the wind in the trees. Save for a few lights that lit the water feature and her path inside, there were only shadows too dark to peer into.

Shaking her head, Nora sat down on the edge of the fountain and savored the few remaining moments before the rain arrived. It was getting late, but thanks to Nikki she was too wired to sleep. Distantly she could hear the sounds of the Quarter, the music drifting out of the clubs and up from street corner bands to gather in their own unique melody. Nora smiled, reminded once more of her love for the city. Maybe sometime soon she and Nikki could prowl the Quarter like tourists. The image her mind conjured only made her smile widen, but it faded when she thought about someone seeing them and it getting back to her family or Dan.

“Life has to be so damn complicated.” Her grumbled words were lost in a sudden close rumble of thunder. With a sigh, Nora got to her feet and headed inside, leaving the fragrant night air and the sound of the Crescent City’s musical soul behind.

She shivered in the air-conditioned hallway. Again she caught the scent of cheap cologne, more sharp and obvious in the enclosed space. Nora frowned. None of the other tenets would be caught dead wearing something that smelled that bad, she mused, nor would they have the lousy taste to date someone who would.

Climbing up the steps to her apartment, she unlocked her door and stepped inside, disarming her alarm before it could trigger. More shadows gathered to greet her, long and twisted as they stretched out for her over the floor. For a moment, Nora thought she caught another hint of the cologne, and her left hand eased up to rest on the butt of the gun tucked under her t-shirt. She unsnapped the weapon and lifted it slightly out of her holster, listening intently to the night and the sounds of her apartment settling around her. Something was off. Something that made her cop instincts crawl.

Easing further into her apartment, Nora left the lights off, letting her eyes adjust to the familiar objects around her. If she wasn’t alone, her knowledge of her own space might be the only advantage she had.

Nora took her time, checking every potential hiding place. There was no one there but her, but she couldn’t shake the feeling something was wrong. Sighing, she flipped on the light in her bedroom, some of her unease vanishing as the darkness did the same. Reba looked up at her from under the bed and Nora cocked her head, wondering why her cat was tucked away in a spot usually reserved for hurricanes and visits from the maintenance man.

“Getting paranoid, girl.” Nora sat on the floor, snapping off her gun and holster and setting both on the nightstand. Reba mewed softly and crawled out to greet her, appearing oddly relieved. Nora scooped her up and sat quietly for a moment, listening to her cat purr as the rain began to gently spatter against the windows.

Sighing, Nora leaned back against the bed, considering her options. Her gaze cut to the window and she thought about Sarah Wentworth, still loose somewhere in the city. Sarah would come for her and Nikki at some point, Darius was right about that. The only thing Sarah seemed to take any real pleasure in was revenge. Now that her funds had been cut off and the noose was tightening every hour, Sarah would more than likely pull something and soon.

“We’ll get her.” Nora put her chin down on Reba’s head. The cat purred happily, oblivious to Nora’s darkening mood. “We’ll get her before the cancer does.”

Nora stared aimlessly at the wall as the rain began to pick up in tempo. Her mind soon let go of its focus on Sarah Wentworth, choosing instead to think about its favorite subject.

Nikki had vowed that she could teach her a thing or two. That moment in the car, smack in the middle of their first case, came back to her, and Nora finally acknowledged the heat that had swept through her at the time. She’d pretended it was embarrassment, but some part of her had known. The attraction had been there from the start.

What she wouldn’t give to be with Nikki now, a willing student ready to learn whatever Nikki wanted to teach her. Just the thought of her partner touching her… sliding against her with nothing but silk sheets between them…

Nora swallowed and shivered as her gaze drifted to the storm beyond the windows. She’d taken one too many cold baths and showers since meeting Nikki Beaumont. Tonight, she didn’t want to quell her desire for the other woman. Tonight, she wanted heat.

Setting the cat on the bed, Nora stood on shaking legs. There was no way she was going to sleep any time soon, not when she was this consumed. Raking a hand through her hair, Nora considered her options.

Only one made any sense.

****

Lake Pontchartrain lapped at the moorings below Sarah’s feet. She watched the brackish water churn, agitated by the storm beginning on the horizon. The air smelled like water and diesel fumes, and Sarah wondered, not for the first time, if she’d chosen the best place for her game-changing move.

She could have made her play elsewhere, surrounded by accommodations that were far more to her liking, but this spot suited her needs. She required an industrial area, one where workers would swarm the very place where she stood in a matter of hours. One where cameras would record every move she was about to make. It was fitting that the property belonged to her family. That it should have belonged to her…

Sarah had been pushed to this, and while a part of her savored the danger and excitement of what she was about to do, she resented being forced into doing it. Detectives Beaumont and Delaney had been much smarter than she’d bargained for, her only mistake in an otherwise flawless plan. Now the pair had ruined almost everything, ensuring that her final days would be spent in hiding, far from the luxuries she’d worked so hard to obtain. Still, it had been a long time since she’d been challenged so thoroughly, and part of her reveled in the game. There were few things Sarah enjoyed more than outthinking an opponent, and this time she had two worthy ones.

Their badges would be worthless when she was done, but the delicious twist was the thought of destroying their relationship. It was clearly new and intense, and Sarah hoped she would survive long enough to see it go down in flames. She was clever enough to kill three people without getting her hands dirty. Ending Nora Delaney and Nikki Beaumont’s careers and their feelings for each other would be easy in comparison.

Sarah glanced at the lake once more as the lightning crept closer. Her parents had both died submerged in water, she thought with a smirk. The press would find it fitting that she did the same. Her brother didn’t even cross her mind.

Slipping inside her Corvette, Sarah watched as the first fat drops of rain struck the windshield. The engine was idling with a smooth purr, and Sarah took a moment to run her hand over the leather of the passenger seat. “What a waste,” she said as she appreciated the attention to detail more than she’d ever cared about her own family.

The damp air rushed inside when she finally rolled down the windows. Sarah slipped the car out of park and turned on her headlights, making herself clearly visible to anyone who might be in the area.

No voices called out to her, only the muted thunder and the faint strains of music on the radio filled her ears. It was oddly peaceful.

With a slow, knowing smile, Sarah put her foot down on the accelerator, laughing as her plan and the Corvette jerked forward, racing across the small parking lot toward the black water below. When the tires left the pavement and the car plunged toward its end, Sarah mused it was a little like flying.

****

The rain did little to soothe Nikki’s mind. She watched it fall from her small back porch, pelting on the trees and trickling out of her gutters. Nestor didn’t seem to mind, nosing around in the garden the previous owner had planted. His tail occasionally wagged, slinging water to and fro, and his antics were almost enough to distract her.

Almost.

She’d lost her courage tonight. Nikki swallowed and dropped her head, staring at her hands where they rested in her lap. They were wrapped around her cell phone, but she couldn’t bring herself to call Nora no matter how much she wanted to. She’d confused the hell out of her partner tonight, but she’d confused herself even more.

Nikki vividly recalled the sensation of Nora’s body against her own as she’d leaned into her at the photo shoot, the sound of Nora’s breath catching as Nikki had whispered provocative promises in her partner’s ear. Nora would have followed her home tonight if she’d made the invitation, but something at the last second had stayed Nikki’s tongue.

Sighing, Nikki let her head fall back as she looked heavenward, her toe still nudging the porch swing she sat on into a gentle sway. If she’d just held tight to her courage, she would have been making love to Nora right now. She would have been exploring that intricate tattoo on her partner’s back, or learning what other spots on Nora’s lean body would make her partner’s breath hitch.

“Idiot. Absolute, total, utter, idiot.” Nikki shook her head at herself. “And you’re a chicken shit for good measure,” she added petulantly. Sleeping with someone had never given her nerves before, but tonight they’d gotten the better of her.

So now she was sitting alone in the dark and watching the rain, nature giving her a cold shower of sorts as punishment. Soon she would slip beneath even colder sheets, bitterly missing the heat she’d foolishly passed up.

Nikki glanced at her watch, biting her lower lip when she saw the time. It was late, but that excuse wasn’t enough to dissuade her. She could go to Nora now and apologize. Maybe she didn’t have to spend this night alone after all. Her courage, which had been disgustingly absent an hour before, returned with a vengeance. She needed to see Nora, to kiss that tempting mouth one more time tonight.

“Nestor.” Nikki patted her leg as she stood, pleased when her dog responded instantly and amiably shuffled up the steps and onto the porch. Nikki picked up an old towel she’d brought for the occasion and dried him off much to his delight. “Would you forgive me if I went out again tonight, boy?” Her dark eyes peered into his and his tail thumped against the porch before he reached up and licked her chin.

Laughing, Nikki wiped at her skin before ushering the dog inside. She made sure he had food and water and gave him one of his favorite treats for good measure before she washed her hands and dabbed on a little more of her favorite perfume. Studying herself in the mirror, Nikki decided her appearance would have to do. She wasn’t in an evening gown anymore, but she suspected Nora would be just fine with her loose t-shirt and jeans. With any luck, she wouldn’t be wearing them long anyway.

Taking a deep breath to quiet the butterflies in her stomach, Nikki gave her a reflection a nod in the mirror. They’d waited long enough. It was time to cross that line.

Grabbing her keys, Nikki headed for the front door, flipping off her hall light as she passed. She stepped out onto her front porch and nearly yelped when she collided with a warm, wet body.

“Hey.” Nora sounded oddly out of breath as she caught Nikki’s arms, keeping them both from tumbling down the stairs. She was soaked from the rain, her t-shirt hugging her curves but doing nothing to disguise the heat coming off her body.

Nikki was caught in Nora’s intense but wary regard. Her brain struggled to shift from fantasy to reality, comprehending too slowly that the woman she’d been on her way to see had come to her instead. Her stomach went into a tantalizing freefall when she realized what that meant. She couldn’t think of a single brilliant thing to say, and when Nora gave her a lazy smile, it did nothing to help.

“You going somewhere?”

Nikki finally smiled, taking in her partner’s features in the gaslight of her front porch. Even drenched, she was absolutely beautiful. “To see you.”

Nora took a breath. “Oh.” Slowly, she smiled again. “Guess I saved you the trouble.”

“Guess you did.” Nikki let her hands brush up wet denim, feeling Nora’s stomach quiver as she hooked her fingers on her partner’s belt buckle and tugged her closer. She looked down into Nora’s eyes, praying that Nora wanted what she did. “Tell me you’re not here for work.”

Nora studied her seriously. “I’m not here for work.”

They both held their breath as the rain cooled the warm New Orleans night around them. Nora had taken the first step, braving the unknown to come to her now, showing more courage than Nikki could imagine. It was up to her to take things the rest of the way.

“Then we should get you out of these wet clothes.” Nikki didn’t give a damn that she sounded breathless. Leaping from the edge they’d been teetering on, she savored the rush. She watched as Nora swallowed hard.

There was a moment of hesitation, a flicker of uncertainty in Nora’s eyes, but then her partner’s hands slid up Nikki’s sides, drawing her in. “Sounds like a good idea.”

They were exposed, standing there on Nikki’s porch in the gaslight and the rain, but Nikki didn’t care. She dipped her head as Nora met her halfway, kissing her slowly as thunder rumbled overhead.

****

The bedroom was dark save for the meager light that shone inside from the back porch. There was just enough illumination for Nora to make out Nikki’s king-sized bed and her heart jerked in her chest. As much as she wanted this, as much as she wanted Nikki, she was still nervous. Nora wanted things between them to be as good as she’d imagined, but even more, she wanted to please her partner. She just hoped she would figure out how.

“You okay?”

Her reservations must have shown on her face, Nora realized, or maybe Nikki had felt her pulse pound where the taller woman’s long fingers were wrapped around her wrist. “Yeah. Just…”

Nikki smiled and some of Nora’s fears retreated back into the darkness even as her hormones surged.

“Me too.” Nikki stepped closer, drawing Nora to her before she kissed her softly. They spent several quiet moments that way before Nikki’s fingers eased beneath Nora’s shirt.

Her partner’s hands were warm against Nora’s chilled, damp skin. She inhaled sharply, the touch searing through her. Nora didn’t protest as Nikki eased back just enough to peel the clinging fabric from her body. Cold air brushed her bare stomach, and Nora almost shivered until she saw Nikki slipping off her own shirt. If she had any lingering doubts about her attraction for her partner, they evaporated at the sight. She didn’t get to take her in nearly as much as she wanted, but Nora couldn’t complain as Nikki pressed closer once more. The rain on her skin dried in the heat between them.

On her way over to Nikki’s condo, Nora had imagined how this night would go. After the long, agonizing wait, she’d expected them to practically tear each other’s clothes off. She’d imagined their first time together would be rough and frenzied, nothing like the slow, deliberate pace Nikki was setting.

This was better. So much better. Nora’s confidence gained steam as she kissed her partner, her hands mapping Nikki’s back as she held her close.

The anticipation thickened between them as Nikki slid Nora’s belt free and tossed it aside. Nora couldn’t breathe as she watched Nikki unbutton her jeans before letting her hands eased inside the wet denim to touch Nora’s hips. She swallowed hard as blunt nails eased over her skin, making her stomach clench in reaction.

When Nora gasped at the arousing touch, Nikki merely smiled, but the grin shaping her partner’s mouth was one Nora had never seen before. It was pure seduction and made Nora crave the feel of that mouth on every inch of her body.

“Take them off.” Nikki’s command made Nora’s head swim. She pulled away, walking backward toward the bed while Nora could only watch, missing the heat of her. Green eyes dipped to stare as Nikki freed her own belt before working the button to her jeans. Nora stood motionless, her breath coming fast as Nikki kicked off her shoes and peeled the denim down her long legs.

“Jesus,” Nora whispered under her breath as Nikki sat down on the side of the bed and crooked a teasing finger at her. In nothing now but black, almost sheer underwear, Nora had to admit that reality was far better than any fantasy.

Doing as ordered, Nora stripped out of her wet jeans with some difficulty. Nikki watched with aroused amusement, chuckling lightly as Nora nearly toppled over at one point. Nora gave her a look and her partner smiled, the moment of levity serving to ease Nora’s nerves even more.

“Come here,” Nikki beckoned, but Nora didn’t miss the hint of pleading in her voice. She bit her lip as her gaze traveled over every inch of her partner’s body, taking her in with open appreciation and hunger.

No one had ever looked at her like that before. Nora took a slow, deep breath, trying to rein in her growing desire to some degree that would leave her sane. It was a lost cause as Nikki reached up, making sure Nora’s eyes were on her hands, and unfastened the front clasp of her bra.

Nikki’s dark eyes watched her as she approached the bed. She opened her bra fully, baring herself to Nora’s appreciative gaze before slipping it off her shoulders. Nora heard a tiny whimper and realized with slight mortification it was her. Trembling now, she licked her lips as Nikki took her hands and slowly laid on the bed, dragging Nora to her. Nikki placed Nora’s hands on her stomach, holding her gaze as she began to skim them up her body.

When they reached her breasts, the last razor thin edge of Nora’s control snapped. She slid onto her partner, covering Nikki’s body with her own, shivering with pleasure as they went skin-to-skin before tangling together in the sheets.

****

Nikki moaned softly into Nora’s mouth as her partner explored her. Nora’s hands were everywhere, finding her weak spots and exploiting them mercilessly. She’d known Nora would be as determined in bed as she was on the job, but she was surprised that the tables had been turned so quickly. Nikki had naively believed she would have to take charge of their lovemaking, but Nora apparently had other ideas.

A hot mouth on her right breast wrung a surprised cry from her throat and Nikki both heard and felt Nora purr in reaction. Nora was reveling in Nikki’s body, in learning every inch of it. Nikki quickly learned that her partner was turned on by every sound she made and she didn’t bother to be quiet, not that she could have been when Nora used her tongue like that.

Reaching up, Nikki searched Nora’s back before finding her bra clasp, unhooking it with one-handed ease before stripping the damp garment from her partner’s body. Nora gasped in surprise as Nikki flipped them both over, mimicking Nora’s techniques so her partner would know just how good they felt, tasting the rain on Nora’s skin.

Nora’s body bowed beneath her, straining for more of Nikki’s touch. Nikki took a moment to stare at the length of her, burning the image into her memory. She’d always heard that sex was better with emotion powering it, but she’d never believed it until now.

“Nikki…”

Her name came out on something close to a sob as Nikki let her right hand glide down Nora’s stomach and past the only barrier left between them. This time she didn’t tease, knowing that Nora couldn’t take much more. Nora’s hips jerked as she touched her for the first time, giving Nora a taste of what she needed by sliding inside her slow and deep. She watched her partner’s face, seeing Nora’s eyes glaze as she pressed her head back into the pillow, her breath catching low in her throat before transforming into a sound of pure pleasure Nikki knew she would never forget.

It was hard to go slow, but Nikki did, wanting Nora to keenly feel every kiss, every caress, every time Nikki entered her and withdrew. Nora was starting to beg, losing control of what little willpower she had left. Hearing her, knowing she was the source of those provocative sounds and pleas, left Nikki’s own restraint in tatters, but she owed her partner this. She owed her a first time that was better than anything she imagined, but more than that, Nikki realized, she wanted Nora to feel how much she loved her.

The thought brought tears to her eyes and she shifted, rising up to catch Nora’s mouth just as her fingers slid home once more. Nora clutched at her, her hips grinding against Nikki’s hand, her lover completely lost to the sensations Nikki was making her feel.

“I promised,” Nikki whispered in Nora’s ear a moment later before sliding away. She kissed her way down Nora’s chest and past her navel before nipping her partner on the hip. Her name fell repeatedly from Nora’s lips as she withdrew her touch only long enough to remove Nora’s underwear before settling between her legs.

One of Nora’s hands reached up and caught the iron headboard in a vice-like grip. The other tangled in Nikki’s hair, urging her closer as she resumed her touch and added her mouth to the mix. Nora thrashed, gasping Nikki’s name. The way she moved, the sounds she made, were nearly enough to drive Nikki to the breaking point. Nora was more beautiful to her than ever, and in that moment, Nikki knew she’d do damn near whatever it took to never lose this.

Smiling as she finally showed Nora what she’d been missing, Nikki used her mouth to send her partner soaring.

****

“Told you.”

Nora laughed, enough of her sanity having returned to know what Nikki meant. Her partner was pressed up against her, that amazing body partially draped over Nora’s own as Nikki rested her head on Nora’s shoulder. She could barely move, and she wondered if Nikki had completely shorted out her entire nervous system. It sure as hell felt like it. “Modest,” she managed as she still worked to catch her breath.

Nikki propped her head up on one fist and looked down at her flushed partner. “Sugar, if you had witnessed what I just saw…”

Nora was certain her cheeks were growing redder as heat infused them. She’d never begged anyone for anything before, but Nikki had made it worth it. “Fine. I’ve been missing out.” She turned her head to meet Nikki’s gaze, enjoying her slow smile in reaction. Weakly, Nora reached up and traced her partner’s bottom lip with her thumb, vividly remembering what that mouth had just done to her. “I love the way you smile. Have I ever told you that?”

Dark eyes softened as Nikki watched her, a serious expression on her face. “Have I ever told you I love you?”

For a moment, Nora couldn’t breathe. She’d already known, had felt it in the way Nikki made love to her, but hearing Nikki’s confession meant more than she wanted to admit. “I noticed.” Nora kept her tone light, sensing Nikki needed her to.

Chuckling, Nikki let her fingers graze up Nora’s stomach before lightly caressing the skin between her breasts. “I would hope so.”

“That was… amazing… and that word doesn’t really do it justice.” Nora watched some of the tension ease from Nikki’s shoulders, and she realized her partner was just as worried about pleasing her as she was about pleasing her partner.

“Worth waiting for?” Nikki asked softly.

“Definitely.”

“Worth the photo shoot?” Nikki lifted one skeptical eyebrow.

“Eh…” Nora answered playfully only to have the breath knocked out of her again when Nikki smacked her playfully on the stomach. Before Nikki could do it again, Nora found the strength to roll them over. Landing on top, Nora eased up, straddling her partner. The view below was incredible and Nora took a moment to gather her strength and take it in.

“I don’t really know what I’m doing…” Nora bit her lip as she placed her hands on Nikki’s stomach, her right thumb tracing lightly over Nikki’s hip.

“You seemed to be doing just fine to me, sugar.” Nikki’s voice had grown noticeably huskier. Her hands came to rest on Nora’s thighs, running up and down the bare skin as she watched and waited to see what Nora would do. “Explore me. I can promise you, I’m going to enjoy it.”

The prospect was as thrilling as it was daunting. “That could take awhile.” Nora felt a tiny thread of victory when Nikki’s breath caught at the suggestion.

“We have all night, but after watching you…” Nikki licked her lips, her dark eyes sparkling at the memory of making love to Nora. “I’m not sure I’ll last that long.” She caught one of Nora’s hands, easing it between them and urging Nora to cup her through her underwear. Nora had to close her eyes, her nostrils flaring at the heat of her. She teased the fabric with her thumb, opening her eyes in time to see Nikki’s slip shut as her partner ground into her palm.

It was the most sensual thing Nora had ever seen. She wanted to say something clever, something arousing, but the words wouldn’t come as Nikki moved against her again. Instead she moved her hand and lifted up just enough to remove the underwear completely. Nikki watched her, looking hungry for whatever she was going to do next.

Nora straddled her again, inhaling sharply as they touched so intimately. She began to slowly rock her hips, pleased when Nikki gripped her legs and held on against the feeling. Nora gave her hands permission to wander, and they ghosted over a taut stomach before finding firm breasts. The passion she saw in her partner’s eyes took Nora’s breath away.

It wasn’t fair, Nora realized, to go as slow with Nikki as she’d gone with her. They’d both waited long enough, and Nikki had been willing to wait even longer. Nora draped her body over her partner’s, kissing her long and deep before her fingers glided down and into her. They both moaned at how good it felt.

“Thought… you were going to…” Nikki stopped talking as Nora slid into her again with more force this time as she grew accustomed to what was happening, how it felt.

“In a little while,” Nora promised, her head reeling with the knowledge she was inside her partner. “But you need this now.” And so did she, she realized. Nikki felt incredible

Nikki didn’t answer, her hips lifting to greet Nora’s next thrust. She whimpered, her hands gripping Nora’s hips. She was so damn warm around Nora’s fingers. So incredibly ready.

Nora thought about moving, about getting a different angle so she could kiss Nikki’s breasts, tease them with her tongue, but she didn’t want to miss a second of the play of emotion on her lover’s face. It was taking everything Nikki had to let Nora set the pace and she knew it. When she added a third finger, Nikki swore, her accent thickening as she grasped at her partner, urging her to continue.

Carefully, Nora began to tease with her thumb after each thrust as Nikki whimpered and steadily beginning to lose control. Nora had never known touching another woman could feel this good. She loved the way Nikki felt, the way her partner enjoyed what she was doing to her. She increased her pace, finding her target as Nikki gasped. When Nikki clamped down hard on her fingers, when Nora watched her partner arch off the bed as her orgasm swept through her, it was the most perfect moment she had ever known.

****

“That’s Sarah Wentworth’s car all right.” Dan put one hand on his hip as he watched the corvette being lifted from the water. The other held a steaming cup of coffee to ward off the chill of the frighteningly early hour. Police lights had been erected and were glaring off the dark water and glinting off the fine mist of rain that still swirled in the air. He was tempted to put on his sunglasses it was so bright.

Georgia came closer, watching the water pour back into the lake from the car’s open windows. “What a waste.”

Dan grunted in agreement.

They both eyed the windshield as the crane moved the corvette toward the parking lot, noting the inside appeared to be empty.

“I’ve got a few uniforms pulling the surveillance video,” Georgia added. “Looks like we might get to make Nikki and Nora’s morning.”

Dan wasn’t so sure. His cops would have rather thrown Wentworth in a prison cell to rot, but sometimes justice had other ideas. He glanced at his watch. It was only 4:30. His detectives should be sleeping but he slipped out his phone anyway. He mulled over whom to call first. Deciding he’d give his old partner a few more minutes of rest, he dialed Nikki’s number.

It took almost six rings before she answered.

“Sir?”

Dan frowned. Nikki sounded oddly out of breath for the early hour. “You okay?”

“Definitely okay.” There was a pause and Dan heard her swallow. “What’s up?”

He wondered if he’d just interrupted something and a tiny smile emerged at the thought. “Thought you’d want to know. We’re pulling Sarah Wentworth’s car from Lake Pontchartrain.”

“What?” Just like that, Nikki’s voice went all cop. “Where? Is she in it?”

“Doesn’t look like it. Was a warm night. Windows are down. Current might have swept her out when the storm hit. Divers are searching in the water now.”

“I’ll… I’ll tell Nora. We can be there…”

“Don’t bother. Take the day, have a long weekend. Maybe then I can get the brass off my ass for all the overtime you’ve been putting in on this one.”

“Sir…”

“That’s an order. Call Nora in a bit and let her know.”

“Um… yeah.” Nikki’s voice sounded funny again. “Listen… Don’t assume anything where Sarah is concerned.”

“You think she planned this?” Dan saw Georgia turn and look at him, lifting one eyebrow in silent question.

“She’s capable of anything. I wouldn’t put it past her.”

“We’re pulling the video now. We’ll let you know when the body turns up.”

“Thanks,” Nikki said slowly. “And thanks for the day. We could use it.”

She disconnected before Dan could say anything more. He looked at Georgia. “Nikki dating somebody?”

“How the hell would I know?” Georgia moved away when she saw the uniforms returning from the warehouse.

Dan shrugged and tucked his phone back into his pocket. “Women,” he mumbled before taking another sip of his coffee.

****

Nora watched Nikki in the relative darkness. Even though she’d only been privy to one side of the conversation, hearing Sarah Wentworth’s name mentioned told her nearly all she needed to know. She watched as Nikki, wrapped up in one of the soft gray sheets from the bed, closed her phone and purposefully set it on the nightstand before her dark gaze shifted back on to Nora.

“Did they find her?”

Nikki shook her head. “Not exactly.”

Lifting one eyebrow in mute question, Nora waited as Nikki dropped the sheet and slid back on to the bed, curling around her under the covers.

“They found her car.”

“That’s something, I guess.” Nora wasn’t sure why that piece of news was causing Nikki’s brow to furrow.

“At the bottom of Lake Pontchartrain.”

“Ah.” Nora propped her head on her fist and gazed down at her partner. “I take it she wasn’t in it.”

Nikki shook her head. “Unfortunately. Windows were down. Dan thinks the current might have washed her out.”

“But you don’t think so.”

“She’s… she’s a manipulator. She uses whatever she can to her advantage. I wouldn’t put it past her to fake her death.”

“Take some of the heat off her,” Nora added, giving the idea some thought. It was hard, however, with Nikki’s naked body proving to be a potent distraction.

“Yeah.” Nikki bit her lip as she gave the situation some thought. “I don’t think this is over. Not this easily.”

Nora didn’t want to think about Sarah Wentworth anymore than she had already, especially not now. She let her left hand skim across Nikki’s stomach before teasing upward, watching Nikki’s eyes glaze when her touch got more personal. “Maybe not.” Nora dipped her head and kissed her. “But I say we worry about it in the morning.”

“It is morning,” Nikki answered cheekily.

“Not until the sun comes up.” Nora kissed her again, feeling Nikki’s answering touch on her body. “Plenty of time to worry then.”

“I do like the way you think.”

****

Even with the mid-morning sun glinting off the rain soaked street, the air felt colder than it had the night before. Nikki shivered as she stepped outside in her robe and bare feet to retrieve the paper. She spotted Nora’s El Camino at the curb and she grinned. She suspected she could get used to the sight.

Picking up the paper, Nikki paused as an envelope fell out of it, striking the damp concrete and coming to rest on the toes of her right foot. Something soured in her stomach, but she reached down and collected it, turning it over in her hands to see there was no name or address on it anywhere.

Looking up, Nikki’s eyes scanned the street. There were no unfamiliar cars, no people that looked out of place. The scent of coffee reached her, reminding her that Nora was waiting inside. Clenching her jaw, she opened the flap and tipped the envelope, feeling what could only be several pictures sliding out against her fingertips.

Nikki started to shake. She grabbed the photos with her thumb and forefinger before turning them over, her face a stone mask as she saw an image of herself kissing Nora right where she currently stood. There was no note. There didn’t need to be.

Sarah. The name came unbidden to Nikki’s mind, and she knew in her gut that Sarah was behind this. What the price would be, she would find out soon enough. The pictures were a warning shot; a cruel play to make sure Nikki knew Sarah had the upper hand.

Feeling lightheaded, Nikki looked up again, certain there were eyes watching her that she couldn’t see. The blackmail photos felt like they were burning her fingers, and she didn’t bother to look at the rest as she stuffed them back in the envelope.

“Nik?” Nora’s voice drifted down the hall.

Nikki swallowed the bile rising in her throat. Her relationship with Nora suddenly felt fragile when moments ago it had seemed so warm and solid. With a glare for the street outside, Nikki tucked the photographs under her arm, her brain furiously warring with the idea of showing them to Nora or keeping them to herself.

Nora glanced at her over the rim of her coffee cup as Nikki came into view. “Everything okay?”

Nikki stared at her, at a lost for what to say next. Their first night together had been all she’d hoped it would be and more, but the photos tucked under her arm were already tainting it. Slowly, Nikki drew closer, running one hand through Nora’s tousled blonde hair so she could study her face in the morning light. She searched Nora’s sleepy eyes, realizing she desperately wanted to wake up to the sight of them again and again. “I love you,” she whispered, hearing the desperation in her own voice but unable to do anything to disguise it.

Before Nora could see that she was shaken, before her partner’s keen senses suspected something was horribly wrong, Nikki leaned in and kissed her. If Sarah was going to destroy them today, Nikki was damn well going to make every minute of it count.

“I love you,” she said again against the skin of Nora’s throat, feeling the words both free her soul and trap her inside Sarah’s web. She knew then what her choice would be. There really was none at all.

“I love you too,” Nora answered softly, sounding a little confused.

Nikki threw the paper and the damning photos into the recycling bin to deal with later. She then took Nora’s hand and led her back to bed, making love to her slowly. Nora was lost to the desire between them, oblivious to the danger Sarah posed to their deepening relationship.

Later, as Nora slept soundly in her arms, Nikki watched the sun as it crept over the bedspread to catch in Nora’s hair. A fierce, protective surge washed through her as she watched her lover sleep. She would do whatever it took to protect this woman. She would do whatever it took to protect what was happening between them.

“Whatever it takes,” Nikki whispered, already afraid of just how far she was willing to go to keep that promise.

The End?


End file.
